Abstract: As one of the abundant renewable natural resources second only to cellulose, starch is readily available and inexpensive. It also can be degraded easily and turned into useful derivative by biochemical method. Many countries pay great attention to exploitthe starch resources for a long time. Especially many investigators and manufacturers have done works on natural starch denaturalization which is becoming the hot spotted with physical, chemical and biological methods. In this paper, the modified starch processes based on physical methods (hydrothermal, microwave, ionizing radiation, ultrasound, ball milling, extrusion etc) were summarized. The acting mechanism, preparations, properties and structure changes of physically-modified starch were reviewed. The long-term potential development of physic-modified starch was prospected.

Key words: physic-modified, modified starch, mechanism, preparation, application