Biodegradable thermoplastic starch

High Stiffness Performance Alpha-Grass Pulp Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Starch-Based Fully Biodegradable Composites

Alpha-grass was studied as the reinforcement in a starch-based polymer matrix. Mater-bi®-Y was chosen as a matrix due to its Young’s modulus, in line with that of polypropylene. The test specimens were injection molded and tensile tested. The obtained results were compared to glass fiber reinforced polypropylene. The reinforcing fibers increased the Young’s modulus significantly, obtaining valu...

Biodegradable thermoplastic polyurethanes incorporating polyhedral oligosilsesquioxane.

A new hybrid thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) system that incorporates an organic, biodegradable poly(D, L-lactide) soft block with a hard block bearing the inorganic polyhedral oligosilsesquioxane (POSS) moiety is introduced and studied. Changes in the polyol composition made through variation of the hydrophilic initiator molecular weight show direct control of the final transition temperature...

Cereal grain-based biodegradable thermoplastic compositions

The present invention provides a biodegradable thermoplastic composition made of a cereal grain that is treated with an organic solvent, and optionally a cross-linking agent such as an aldehyde, an acid anhydride or an epoxide, to link together the starch and protein of the cereal grain. The compositions may be used to make extruded or molded articles that are biodegradable, water-resistant, an...

Retrogradation and Antiplasticization of Thermoplastic Starch

Petrochemical-based plastics are widely used in modern society due to their high effective mechanical and barrier properties (Farris et al., 2009; Siracusa et al., 2008). However, petrochemical-based plastics have become an environmental concern as they are not biodegradable or recyclable. Replacing the petrochemical-based polymers with biopolymers which are renewable has become an attractive i...

Crosslinking of oxidized thermoplastic starch films