An Initial Study of Starch-g-polystyrene Foam Prepared by a Steaming Process

Abstract

The fundamental objective of the present study was to determine appropriate conditions for the preparation of a starch-g-polystyrene foam sample by a steaming process using water as a blowing agent. This study was undertaken to assess the physical properties using a variety of techniques including visual inspection, density measurement, and scanning electron microscopy. The starch-g-polystyrene copolymer was prepared from the synthesis of cassava starch and styrene monomer by free radical polymerization using benzoyl peroxide as an initiator in an aqueous medium. An FT-IR technique was employed to characterize the chemical structure of the graft copolymers. The experimental results revealed that the appropriate ratio of starch-g-polystyrene and water was 30:70 and the appropriate steaming time was 5 min since this condition generated foam with a more uniform cell size and cell distribution. The open-cell foam was obtained from this technique. In addition, the foam density tended to decrease with increasing water ratio.