Effect of Plasticizer and Compatibilizer on Properties of Polybutylene adipate-co-terephthalate (PBAT) with Acetylated Starch

Abstract Immiscible and incompatibility between the hydrophilic fiber phase and hydrophobic matrix phase results in a poor stress transfer between the two phases and deterioration in mechanical, physical, and barrier properties. Therefore, this study aims to enhance the compatibility of hydrophobic polybutylene adipate-co-terephthalate (PBAT) and hydrophilic corn starch (CS) by substituting native corn starch with acetylated corn starch. The acetylation treatment was used to increase the hydrophobicity of CS. The native corn starch was used as a reference to study the effect of acetylation. Challenges in incorporating a high amount of hydrophilic natural filler into hydrophobic PBAT were overcome by adding plasticizer; glycerol and compatibilizers; maleic anhydride (MAH) and Dicumyl peroxide (DCP). The composite films were characterized by tensile properties, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), contact angle (CA) measurement, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The morphology of the composites was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The tensile properties of PBAT/ACS were improved by adding a compatibilizer. Meanwhile, adding plasticizer tends to improve the tensile properties of PBAT/CS. PBAT/ACS/MAH composite possessed a tensile strength of 15.47 MPa, modulus of 95.30 MPa, and strain at break of 170.81%, while PBAT/CS/30S composite possessed tensile strength of 8.59 MPa, modulus of 104.60 MPa and strain at break of 1037.91% which have potential use in packaging applications.