Abstract: This paper is concerned with the influences of cross-linking (with epichlorohydrin) alone, esterification (with succinic anhydride) alone, and different sequences of their combinations on mechanical and optical properties of corn starch-based films. The results showed that with increasing cross-linking degree, the tensile strength (TS) of the films gradually increased, whereas the elongation at break (E) and transmittance gradually declined. Likewise, increasing esterificaiton degree led to a stepwise increase in the E value and transmittance of corn starch-based films and a decline in the TS value. In addition, different sequence combinations of cross-linking and esterification and amounts of modification agents had obvious influence on mechanical and optical properties of corn starch-based films. This study demonstrates that reasonable modifications can effectively improve properties of corn starch-based films for applications.

Key words: cross-linking, esterification, starch-based films, properties