The aim of this study is to improve the compatibility of poly (lactic acid) (PLA)/starch composite by electron beam irradiation in the presence of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) as a reactive compatibilizer. Compatibilization process has been done by melt mixing the PLA/starch and GMA with a twin screw extruder and exposing the PLA/starch/GMA mixture to electron beam at room temperature. The exposure process was carried out to induce definite interfacial adhesion at the interface between PLA and starch through electron beam-initiated graft copolymerization by the medium of the GMA. To testify the effect of this compatibilization strategy, rheological, mechanical, and morphological properties of the composite were analyzed. The scanning electron micrographs of the cryofracture and tensile fracture surfaces of the composites revealed that the interfacial adhesion between PLA and starch was greatly improved by this strategy. Fourier transform infrared study confirmed the grafting reaction between PLA and starch. The reaction schemes were proposed to understand the reaction mechanisms at the interface.
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Shin et al. (2013) studied this question.
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