Effect of Plasticizers on Gelatinized Cornstarch Films

Hong, Choong Mun (2018) Effect of Plasticizers on Gelatinized Cornstarch Films. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Environmental pollution was risen up at a fast pace due to the high usage of plastic materials such as plastic packaging. Currently, the biodegradable material was introduced to replace the use of plastic material and the aim of this study is to investigate the effect of plasticizers on gelatinized corn – starch films. Pure cornstarch film and plasticized corn – starch films were prepared in this study. The cornstarch films preparation was fixed at a constant mass of 5g and dissolve in the distilled water until the total volume of the solution is 200 mL. Two types of plasticizers were used to prepare the blends films, namely the cornstarch sorbitol blends (S –S) and cornstarch glycerol blends (S –G). Due to the tackiness that changed the dimension of the S-G films during the peeling process, the mechanical properties of the S-G films analyzed using the universal testing machine could not be done. The tensile properties of the films plasticized by sorbitol were tested and the results showed that the highest sorbitol content results in the best tensile properties. Both sets of plasticized films were analyzed by using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and the results showed that the crystallization of sorbitol and an anti – plasticizing effects gave an opposite result for the samples with plasticizers. However, the overall results of DSC showed that the addition of plasticizer will affect the thermal behavior of cornstarch film by weakening it melting enthalpy.