Blend-Ratio-Dependent Tensile Tradeoffs in Sodium-Periodate-Treated High-Amylose Starch/Poly(vinyl alcohol) Films

Yuntian Bi

doi:10.6919/ICJE.202609_12(9).0017

Authors

Yuntian Bi Beijing National Day School, Beijing, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6919/ICJE.202609_12(9).0017

Keywords:

Sodium Periodate; High-amylose Starch; Poly(Vinyl Alcohol); Solution Casting; Tensile Strength; Elongation at Break; Technical Replication.

Abstract

High-amylose starch/poly(vinyl alcohol) (HAMS/PVA) blends are attractive as renewable-content film materials, but their tensile response depends strongly on starch chemistry, blend ratio, processing, and moisture history. This study compared sodium-periodate-treated HAMS/PVA mass ratios of 1:1 (S1P1), 1:2 (S1P2), and 2:1 (S2P1) with an untreated HAMS/PVA 1:2 control (H1P2) and neat PVA. A 4% (w/v) HAMS dispersion was treated with 4.8 g sodium periodate per 4.0 g starch at 34 °C for 1 h under light-shielded conditions and dialyzed for 72 h. No plasticizer, acid catalyst, filler, or other processing aid was added. Films were solution-cast and tested as 10 mm wide strips at an initial grip separation of 100 mm and a crosshead speed of 10 mm min⁻¹. Using the confirmed centimeter-scale thickness records converted to millimeters, nominal tensile strength and crosshead-derived elongation at break were recalculated from the machine reports. H1P2 had the highest descriptive strength (5.82 ± 0.92 MPa) but fractured at 2.77 ± 0.21% elongation. At the same 1:2 ratio, periodate treatment reduced strength to 1.51 ± 0.09 MPa while increasing elongation to 27.37 ± 6.71%. Increasing the treated-starch fraction to 2:1 raised strength to 4.24 ± 0.73 MPa, 14.0% above neat PVA (3.72 ± 0.09 MPa), but its elongation remained much lower at 18.12 ± 12.57% compared with 128.24 ± 13.89% for PVA. The data therefore identify a composition-dependent tradeoff between strength and extensibility rather than a universal optimum. Periodate cleavage can introduce aldehyde-type functionality and may alter hydrogen bonding, chain packing, and aldehyde-hydroxyl reactions, but covalent crosslinking was not directly measured. The results support further mechanistic and packaging-performance testing of treated HAMS/PVA blends. They do not establish food-contact suitability, barrier performance, or biodegradability.

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