Polymeric ecomaterials for agricultural purpose with added natural rubber

Modern agriculture is constantly looking for ways to intensify production processes, efficiency of soil preparation and to increase yields. Mulching as an agricultural technique is becoming more widespread in our country. Both natural and artificial materials such as synthetic polymers are used for mulching. However, they are characterized by high resistance to decomposition in the environmental conditions, which may lead to negative environmental effects. It is more reasonable to use composite materials that consist of natural and synthetic polymers or entirely biodegradable matrices. One of the most promising thermoplastics that can be degraded by water, ultraviolet radiation and soil microorganisms is polylactide. Polylactide can be obtained both synthetically and from natural raw materials by lactic fermentation of mash of corn, potatoes, cereal crops and other raw materials of natural origin. This paper presents a study of film compositions of polyethylene-natural rubber and polylactide-natural rubber. As a result of the study of the biodegradability of the compositions under study it was found that the addition of natural rubber accelerates this process. So, samples based on polyethylene with 30 wt.% of natural rubber have visible destructive changes of material at incubation in the soil. When adding 15 wt.% of natural rubber to polylactide matrix improvement of mechanical properties is noted, relative elongation increases from 8 to 15,5 % that simplifies application of these materials. The biodegradability of polylactide-natural rubber compositions increases, addition of natural rubber promotes destruction of a matrix of polylactide that is confirmed by the authors’ research as well as by the literature data on the influence of environmental factors.