Author
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Carriere, Craig |
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Submitted to: Journal of Applied Polymer Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/1999 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Starch is a commodity polymer that is utilized today in a wide variety of commercial applications, both food and industrial. In terms of new industrial products, there are increasing opportunities under development in which starch is combined with other polymeric materials, both natural and synthetic. Starch offers both economic advantages, due to its low cost, and environmental advantages, due to its being a renewable, biodegradable material. However, properties of these starch-based materials are little understood because of the complex chemical and physical interactions of starch both with itself and with other components such as synthetic polymers. This study examines the effect of two major components of corn and potato starches on flow behavior. By preparing blends of linear and branched starches from different botanical sources, information relevant to processing and characterization of starch blends and composites was developed. This is part of a program to develop a starch database essential to the design and processing of starch-based products. Technical Abstract: The effect of the addition of potato or maize on the shear-thickening behavior of semidilute solutions of maize was examined. The experiments were conducted at 25 deg C using 90/10 weight/weight DMSO/water as the solvent. The addition of amylose to maize amylopectin reduced and, eventually, eliminated the observed shear-thickening behavior of maize amylopectin. When potato amylose was combined with maize amylopectin, the shear-thickening phenomenon was observed up to a total amylose content of 10% by weight. For maize amylose, the shear-thickening behavior was eliminated at an amylose content of 5%. Maize amylose is thus more effective in inhibiting the formation of the structure formed after the shear-thickening region than is potato amylose. This result indicates that the amylose obtained from potatoes interacts differently, or entangles differently, with maize amylopectin than does the amylose obtained from maize. |
