Fibrillar Structure in Lintnerized Potato Starch by Scanning Electron Microscopy

A study of Lintnerized potato starch has been made with the scanning electron microscope. All fracture faces, etched with the dilute acid solution, show a radial fibrillar system as the structural foundation of the starch grain. No evidence of isodiametric granules was found. Ringlike areas, corresponding to tangentially fractured concentric lamellae of the grain, are not uncommon and are made evident by a change in slope of the fracture face at these rings. The fibrillar system, centered at the middle of a ring, radiates outward from that point and traverses the ring without obvious interruption. The longest fibrillar ridge had a length of 14 μm.