Morphology Development and Interfacial Interactions in Polycaprolactone/Thermoplastic-Starch Blends

摘要

The coalescence, continuity development, dynamic and static mechanical properties and interfacial interactions are studied for polycaprolactone/thermoplastic starch blends. These blends, prepared by a one-step extrusion process, demonstrate the features of a highly interacting system and the tensile mechanical properties demonstrate exceptional ductility at very high levels of thermoplastic starch without any added interfacial modifier. Virtually all the results can be explained by two phenomena: a high elasticity of the thermoplastic starch phase and a strong compatibility between TPS and PC L due to hydrogen bonding. The high level of compatibility is facilitated by the high mobility of the TPS chains due to the high plasticizer content and a highly effective TPS plasticization protocol.