Processing of Superfine Grinding Corn Straw Fiber-Reinforced Starch Film and the Enhancement on Its Mechanical Properties

• Main Authors: Min Wu, Fei Gao, Dong-Min Yin, Qi Luo, Zong-Qiang Fu, Yu-Guang Zhou
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-08-01
• Series: Polymers
• Subjects: corn straw; superfine grinding; starch-based film; mechanical properties
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/10/8/855

In this study, corn straw (CS) was reduced in size using the superfine grinding process to generate powders with particles of varying sizes (9~16 μm). The lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose content; particle size distribution; and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the CS samples were analyzed. Superfine CS, of varying particle sizes, was added to the starch-based films (SF) in various amounts. The resulting corn straw starch-based films (CS/SFs) appeared to have significantly different properties, compared to the original starch-based film (SF, p < 0.05). The power law model and Burger’s model were used to investigate the dynamic mechanical analysis, which indicated that the mechanical properties of CS/SF performed better than that of SF, especially CS/SFs at 0.5–1.5 h ball milling and CS/SFs at a 15% addition amount. The power law model and Burger’s model also presented a strong correlation with the experimental data (>0.90).