Irradiation-modification of starch-containing thermoplastic blends. II. Rheological studies

This study involves an examination of the changes in the rheological behavior (specifically the non-Newtonian viscosity) of blends of various starches with a synthetic polymer (polyethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) as a result of irradiation-modification. The results are generally consistent with fact that starch degrades substantially upon irradiation, while the synthetic polymer is relatively unaffected. However, the high-amylose starch-containing blends are less sensitive to irradiation than we would expect ; this is attributed to possible interactions between the linear molecules from the high-amylose starch and the synthetic polymer.