Mechanical stability of intermediate moisture starch-glycerol systems

There is conflicting information on the mechanical properties and ageing kinetics of starch-water-glycerol systems. This makes understanding the changes occurring on storage of edible products difficult to predict. The work described in this thesis looks at model systems consisting of thermomechanically extruded plasticized starches (waxy maize, rice and wheat) and commercial products. The objectives of the work were to evaluate how the presence of polyols effects glass transition temperature (Tg), sorption isotherms, diffusion rates and texture parameters and to create models that could be used to predict behaviour. Very similar results were obtained for the starch samples except that monolayer (ma) values were higher for the waxy maize starch than for the wheat and rice. The waxy maize also was more brittle at equivalent moisture content when compared to the other two starches. Glycerol had a major impact on the water absorption. For RHs > 70% more water absorbed up by samples containing glycerol while the opposite occurred at RHs <60%. Monolayer values for GAB and BET confirmed this finding. The behaviour could be predicted if an interaction factor