Abstract
We reported a new method to prepare polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/thermoplastic starch (TPS) composites by using polyvinyl alcohol microspheres (PVAMS). The PVAMS/TPS composites were characterized using tensile test, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The results exhibited that adding small amounts of PVAMSs can effectively improve the mechanical strength and toughness of the composites, especially for the 1 wt %PVAMS in TPS matrix, with a tensile strength of 3.5 MPa, an elongation at break at 71.73% and an impact strength of 33.4 kJ/m2. Furthermore, the SEM and shift in the tan δ peak (Tα and Tβ) at the maximum value of 69.87 and −36.52 °C indicates that the PVAMS decreased the mobility of the amorphous starch molecules due to the strong intermolecular hydrogen bonds between PVAMS and TPS. The peak temperature of maximum decomposition rate (Tp) of 1 wt % PVAMS/TPS composites increased about 5 °C compared with TPS in TGA curves.
Highlights
The development of thermoplastic starch (TPS)has received considerable attention over the last two decades due to its biodegradability, renewability and low cost
After adding adding aa small small amount amount of of polyvinyl alcohol microspheres (PVAMS), PVAMSs, the tensile strength was obviously composite containing containing 11 wt % PVAMS. This is an indication of the increased up to 3.5 MPa for the composite reinforcement of PVAMS in TPS matrix, which can be ascribed to the better mechanical effective reinforcement properties of the cross-linked PVAMS
The results indicate that the impact strength of composites is higher than that of TPS and this implies this implies that the toughness is improved by the presence of PVAMS
Summary
The development of thermoplastic starch (TPS)has received considerable attention over the last two decades due to its biodegradability, renewability and low cost. In order to enhance the performance of TPS, three main strategies have been applied in recent decades, namely,(1) chemical modification of starch (e.g., acetylation, oxidation) [3,4]; (2) blending of TPS with polymers such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) [5], polyethylene [6], polylactic acid [7], and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) [8]; and (3) addition of fibers, including natural fibers (cotton [9], flax [10], sisal [11] and pea fibers [12]), synthetic fibers [13,14], and micro/nanofibers [15,16].
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