Effect of glycerol on the morphology of nanocomposites made from thermoplastic starch and starch Nanocrystals

N.L.GARCIA; L. RIBBA; A. DUFRESNE; M. ARANGUREN; S. GOYANES,

CARBOHYDRATE POLYMERS

ELSEVIER SCI LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2011 vol. 84 p. 203 - 210

0144-8617

Fully bio-based nanocomposites were prepared using starch nanoparticles obtained by acidic hydrolysisof waxy maize starch granules as reinforcement. The same type of starch, which contains 99 wt.%amylopectin, was used to prepare glycerol plasticized and unplasticized matrices. The X-ray diffractionpattern of the plasticized reinforced materials displays both A and B-type peaks, showing that the crystallinestructure of the nanocrystals was not affected by processing. The storage modulus of the compositematerial increases, with respect to the unfilled film, by 470% at 50 ◦C, while the permeability increasesby 70%. This is probably due to a good association of glycerol with the nanoparticles leading to a fibrillarstructure, studied by scanning electron microscopy of plasticized and unplasticized composites.