title: Thermal properties and crystallization behavior of thermoplastic starch/poly(ɛ-caprolactone) composites.
abstract: TPS/PCL composites were prepared by PCL melt blending with modified corn starch. The structure, thermal properties, morphology and crystallization behavior of these composites were investigated by FTIR, TGA, SEM, XRD and DSC. FTIR confirmed the existence of the interaction between PCL and TPS, whereas TGA showed that the thermal stability was decreased by the addition of TPS. Meanwhile, SEM showed a weak interfacial adhesion with increasing TPS. According to the Avrami theory, TPS functioned as a nucleating agent to improve the crystallinity rate of PCL. However, the XRD analysis revealed that the crystallinity decreased. At the same time, the ΔE(a) of the composites was higher than those of neat PCL. These changes in values all indicated that mobility constraints existed in the PCL chains with the increasing of TPS, which leaded to a drop in the crystallization ability of PCL.
authors: College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China; Research Institute of Comprehensive Utilization of Biomaterials, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China; Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia. Electronic address: caijievip@hotmail.com.
authors: Jie
authors: J
authors: Cai
authors: College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors: Zhouyi
authors: Z
authors: Xiong
authors: College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China; Research Institute of Comprehensive Utilization of Biomaterials, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors: Man
authors: M
authors: Zhou
authors: College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Tan
authors: College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors: Fanbing
authors: F
authors: Zeng
authors: College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors: Meihuma
authors: College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China; Research Institute of Comprehensive Utilization of Biomaterials, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors: Shun
authors: S
authors: Lin
authors: College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China; Research Institute of Comprehensive Utilization of Biomaterials, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China. Electronic address: xionghanguo@163.com.
authors: Hanguo
authors: H
authors: Xiong
keywords: Crystallization behavior; Poly(ɛ-caprolactone); Thermal properties; Thermoplastic starch