Effect of polybutylene adipate terephthalate on the properties of starch/ polybutylene adipate terephthalate shape memory composites

In this work, the starch/polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) composite films with high starch content were prepared by hot-pressing and ultraviolet cross-linking methods using cassava starch, benzophenone (BP), degradable PBAT and citric acid as film-forming substrate, photosensitizer, toughening material and solvent, respectively. The results showed that starch and PBAT had excellent performance, resulting in the composites films exhibit robust tensile strength (9.90 MPa), decent elongation at break (500.05 %) and excellent shape memory property. Under 30 % pre-tensile strain, the shape memory fixity and recovery ratios reached 96.58 % and 93.94 %, respectively. In addition, the starch-based films were successfully rendered hydrophobic by PBAT hydrophobic characteristics. PBAT not only secures the biodegradability of the starch/PBAT composites films, but also improves the mechanical properties of them, and meets the requirements of the thermal shrinkage films when subjected to large strain.

Automated summary

In this study, starch/polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) composite films with high starch content were prepared using cassava starch, benzophenone (BP), degradable PBAT, and citric acid as film-forming substrate, photosensitizer, toughening material, and solvent. The results showed that the composite films exhibited robust tensile strength (9.90 MPa), decent elongation at break (500.05%), and excellent shape memory property, thanks to the excellent performance of starch and PBAT. Additionally, PBAT rendered the starch-based films hydrophobic and improved their mechanical properties, meeting the requirements of thermal shrinkage films subjected to large strains.