synopsisPolystyrene and poly(methy1 acrylate) were grafted onto wheat starch by gamma radiation and chemical initiation, respectively. The respective percent add-on values were 46 and 45; 68% of the polystyrene formed was grafted to starch, and the corresponding proportion of poly(methy1 acrylate) was 41%. T h e molecular weight distributions of the homopolymer and graft portions were characterized. and extrusion conditions were established for production of ribbon samples of starch-g-PS and starch-g-PMA. Both copolymer types were considerably weakened by soaking in water, and this effect was more immediak and drastic for starch-g-poly(methy1 acrylate). Both graft copolymers regained their original tensile strengths on drying, but the poly(methy1 acrylate) specimens did not recover their originai unswollen dimensions and retained high breaking elongations characteristic of soaked specimens. Tensile and dynamic mechanical properties of extruded and molded samples of both graft polymers are reported, and the plasticizing effects of water are summarized.
INTRODUCTIONThere are numerous publications on the syntheses of thermoplastic graft c'opolymers of starch and cellulose, as summarized in recent review articles on the subject.1-4 Comparatively little has appeared, however, on the processing of such materials and their physical properties.5-9 This article reports reaction conditions for the synthesis of starch-g-polystyrene and starch-g-poly(methy1 acrylate) copolymers which produce good-quality extrudates. These materials were characterized with respect to the amount and molecular weight distributions of the thermoplastic portions that were grafted. Extrusion conditions for production of apparently homogeneous specimens are reported, and some mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties of the extrudates are reviewed. These copolymers contain large proportions of starch, and it was of interest to determine the effect of water on the properties of such materials. These observations are reported here.
EXPERIMENTALSupergel 1201C wheat starch (International Grain Products, Montreal, Canada) supplied with nominal 11.8 w t % moisture was used throughout this work. Styrene and methyl acrylate were washed with 1Wo sodium hydroxide to extract phenolic inhibitors, distilled under reduced pressure, and freeze-thawed to remove oxygen before polymerization.Cobalt-60 radiation was used in the synthesis of starch-g-polystyrene.slo Starch, 100 g, 30 mL distilled H20, and 150 g styrene were triturated in a glass Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol. 27,4115-4135 (1982) where t is the time in years, A0 is the initial source intensity, At is the intensity after time t, and 5.27 is the ~C O half-life in years. After the reaction, the jar was broken away from the solid white copolymer mass, and the product was dried for several hours in a vacuum oven at 60°C and 30 torr pressure and then crushed into a powder.The homopolymer and graft copolymer composition of the product was analyzed as follows. Ungrafted polystyrene (PS) was ext...