Fly ash-reinforced thermoplastic starch composites

As a by-product from the combustion of pulverized coal, fly ash was, respectively, used as the reinforcement for formamide and urea-plasticized thermoplastic starch (FUPTPS) and glycerol-plasticized thermoplastic starch (GPTPS). The introduction of fly ash improved tensile stress from 4.56 MPa to 7.78 MPa and Youngs modulus increased trebly from 26.8 MPa to 84.6 MPa for fly ash-reinforced FUPTPS (A-FUPTPS), while tensile stress increased from 4.55 MPa to 12.86 MPa and Youngs modulus increased six times from 76.4 MPa to 545 MPa for fly ash-reinforced GPTPS (A-GPTPS). X-ray diffractograms illustrated that fly ash destroyed the formation of starch ordered crystal structure, so both A-GPTPS and FUPTPS could resist the starch re-crystallization (retrogradation). Also fly ash improved water resistance of TPS. As shown by rheology, during the thermoplastic processing, the extruder screw speed effectively adjusted the flow behavior of A-FUPTPS, while the increasing of the processing temperature effectively ameliorated the flow behavior of A-GPTPS. However, superfluous ash contents (e.g., 20 wt%) worsened processing fluidity and resulted in the congregation of fly ash in FUPTPS matrix (tested by SEM) rather than in GPTPS matrix. This congregation decreased the mechanical properties and water resistance of the materials.