Phase transition phenomena and the corresponding relaxation process of wheat starch–water polymer matrix studied by dielectric spectroscopic method

The excess amount of water molecule in wheat starch is able to unravel the helix structure. The relaxation process are associated with a collective helical motion is largely affected with the variation of water concentration. Depending on the concentration of water molecules in the system, several kinds of phase could be identified with the variation of temperature. Inter-crystalline and liquid crystalline phases appear in our study depending on the concentration of water molecules. The shape and the intensity of several relaxation processes were largely affected with the variation of water concentration in wheat starch. The total activation energy of all existed relaxation was increased with the increase of water concentration. Two α-relaxations and two γ-relaxations were observed that are going to be reported at first time.