Natural weather ageing of starch/polyvinyl alcohol blend: effect of glycerol content

Abstract

Starch plasticized with glycerol and blended with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is recommended for use as a biodegradable material. The present article reports the results of studies of the natural weather ageing of starch/PVA blends having various amounts of glycerol in natural weather conditions of Saudi Arabia, with special reference to morphology and thermal behavior. Neat PVA has been used as a control to understand its behavior in its blend with starch. Differential scanning calorimeter studies indicated that an increase in the exposure time of samples to natural environment increases the crystallinity of PVA due to the breakage of intermolecular hydrogen bonding, thus facilitating the removal of the amorphous portion of the polymers in the blend. Thermogravimetric analysis revealed that an increase in glycerol content enhanced the degradation of the polymer, which is corroborated with the findings from the surface morphology using scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transfer infrared spectroscopy analyses.

Fabrication of PVA polymer films with improved antibacterial activity by fine-tuning via organic acids for food packaging applications

“…4c), and PVA/LA (Fig. 4d) exhibit relatively rough surface morphology, possibly due to changes in microstructural characteristics introduced during the cross-linking reaction (Appu et al 2013). Of note, SEM images of all films demonstrate no perceptible agglomeration, breaks, or pores, indicating that the cross-linker is well dispersed inside the PVA micro-domains with good compatibility between the components.…”

Preparation of Miscible PVA/PEG Blends and Effect of Graphene Concentration on Thermal, Crystallization, Morphological, and Mechanical Properties of PVA/PEG (10 wt%) Blend

“…Water-soluble polymers such as PEG and PVA and their blends have found many applications such as packaging [1], cosmetics [2], and emulsifiers and adhesives [3], among others. PVA and its composites have been extensively studied by our group [1,[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. With some modifications of the existing polymers, products with low cost and light weight may be developed for a wide range of applications with desirable properties such as mechanical, thermal, and optical properties.…”

Compatibility of poly(acrylic acid)/starch blends

“…Blends of starch with synthetic polymers upgrade the mechanical properties and give biodegradable property to plastics . Blends of starch with natural and synthetic biodegradable polymers such as chitosan , poly(lactic acid) (PLA) , polycaprolactone (PCL) , and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) were reported. These blends are biodegradable, and are used in applications such as energy storage devices, packaging, agriculture, water treatment, and medicine.…”