Journal of Polymers and the Environment

, Volume 22, Issue 4, pp 508–524 | Cite as

Strategies to Produce Thermoplastic Starch–Zein Blends: Effect on Compatibilization

  • Grissel Trujillo-de Santiago
  • Cecilia Rojas-de Gante
  • Silverio García-Lara
  • Letizia Verdolotti
  • Ernesto Di Maio
  • Salvatore Iannace
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

Different strategies to produce thermoplastic materials using starch and zein were studied, aiming to investigate their effect on the compatibility of starch and zein. Research strategies comprised the use of two different plasticizers for starch, two different compatibilizing agents, and two blending procedures. The plasticizers were mixtures of sorbitol and glycerol (SG) or urea and formamide (UF). UF and maleated starch (MS) were used as compatibilizing agents. The blending procedures included: (1) thermoextruding starch and zein as premixed powder materials (TP[Mix]) and (2) coextruding the biopolymers previously thermoplasticized with suitable plasticizers. As observed by the tensile tests, scanning electronic microscopy, and dynamic mechanical analysis, segregation of phases occurred at different extents in all the starch–zein blends. Materials made with MS through the TP[Mix] procedure presented the most severe phases segregation, while the materials made with UF showed higher compatibility between starch and zein. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) suggests that increased zein content leads to a lower molecular order, which was ascribed to diminished molecular entanglement. Thermogravimetric analysis and FTIR analysis showed that the chemical interaction between starch and zein occurred more extensively in slabs made with UF than those made with MS. In addition, foamability was evaluated for the selected materials using supercritical CO2. Neat thermoplasticized starch plasticized with UF and themoplasticized zein with polyethylene-glycol 400 showed good suitability to be foamed, producing foams with porosities above 85 %. Starch plasticized with SG and starch–zein blends yielded compact structures with low porosity values after foaming.

Keywords

Starch Zein Compatibilization Thermoplastic extrusion Foaming 

Abbreviations

UF

Urea and formamide mixture at 2:1 (wt:wt) ratio

SG

Sorbitol and glycerol mixture at 1.4:1 (wt:wt) ratio

MS

Maleated starch

MSG

Mixture of native/maleated starch (50:50) and SG as plasticizer

TPSUF

Native starch thermoplasticized with UF

TPSSG

Native starch thermoplasticized with SG

TPSMSG

Thermoplasticized MSG

TPZ

Zein thermoplasticized with PEG400

Mix[TP]

Mixing thermoplasticized biopolymers through thermoextrusion

TP[Mix]

Thermoplasticizing powder compositions of biopolymers and plasticizers

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Notes

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of Tecnológico de Monterrey through the seed fund CAT-121 and CDB-181 (Centro de Biotecnologia FEMSA, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico). CONACyT (Mexico) provided doctoral scholarship 45964 to GTdeS. We are grateful to Massimo Lombardo (Department of Materials and Production Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy), Cristina del Barone (Laboratorio LaMest, CNR, Naples, Italy), Fabio Docimo, and Maria Rosaria Marcedula (Istituto per i Materiali Compositi e Biomedici, CNR, Naples, Italy) for the technical support provided for producing and studying the materials addressed in this paper.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  • Grissel Trujillo-de Santiago
    • 1
  • Cecilia Rojas-de Gante
    • 2
  • Silverio García-Lara
    • 1
  • Letizia Verdolotti
    • 3
  • Ernesto Di Maio
    • 4
  • Salvatore Iannace
    • 3
  1. 1.Centro de Biotecnología- FEMSATecnológico de Monterrey at MonterreyMonterreyMexico
  2. 2.Departamento de Ingeniería en BiotecnologíaTecnológico de MonterreyTlalpanMexico
  3. 3.Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials of the National Research Council of Italy (IPCB-CNR)PorticiItaly
  4. 4.Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, dei Materiali e della Produzione IndustrialeUniversity of Naples Federico IINaplesItaly

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