A Kinetics Study on the Thermal Degradation of Starch/Poly (Vinyl Alcohol) Blend

Abstract

The thermal degradation of starch/poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) blend was studied by using TG in air atmosphere. Thermo-analytic investigations on pure starch film and starch/PVA blend film were carried out to evaluate the thermal stability and the respective activation energy of the materials. Experiments in air atmosphere and under non-isothermal and isothermal condition carried out. The Kissinger and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa methods were used to calculate the activation energy of non-isothermal degradation of starch and starch/PVA blends. The results show that these two methods were suitable and effective to describe the thermal degradation of starch and starch/PVA blends. These results are shown that starch/PVA blend was thermally less stable than pure starch and thermal stability of films decreased with increasing PVA content.