Hongguang Dai, P. Chang, F. Geng
Aug 26, 2009
Citations
1
Influential Citations
49
Citations
Journal
Journal of Polymers and the Environment
Abstract
N-(2-Hydroxyethyl)formamide (HF) was synthesized efficiently and used as a new additive to prepare thermoplastic starch/montmorillonite nanocomposite (TPS/MMT). Here, HF acted as both plasticizer for TPS and swelling agent for MMT. The hydrogen bond interaction among HF, starch and MMT was proven by Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. By scanning electron microscope (SEM), starch granules were completely disrupted. Atomic force microscopy demonstrated that partially exfoliated TPS/MMT nanocomposite was formed. The crystallinity of corn starch, MMT, HF-plasticized TPS (HTPS) and TPS/MMT nanocomposite was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Thermal stability of HTPS and TPS/MMT was determined by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The water resistance of TPS/MMT nanocomposite increased compared with that of pure HTPS. Tensile strengths of TPS/MMT nanocomposites were higher than those of HTPS, but just the reverse for elongations at break.