The hydrophilic character of starch-based biomaterials generates high instability under different environmental conditions. Oat starch shows an interesting alternative for starch films because it contains higher lipid content than other common starches. This increased hydrophobicity can act reducing the moisture sorption capacity. The objective of this study was to investigate the behavior of oat starch films and sheets produced by casting and extrusion, respectively, plasticized with glycerol, sorbitol and urea and stored at different relative humidity. Even with the presence of native lipid, the materials still showed instability upon increasing the relative humidity for storage. Under higher humidity, a decrease in strength and an increase in deformation in puncture tests were observed. Biomaterials plasticized with glycerol showed higher water sorption capacity. Sorbitol was the most effective plasticizer because it led to materials with similar mechanical properties to other plasticizers even at lower molar concentrations. The extrusion process resulted in final materials with more open, fragmented structures.
Oat; starch; plasticizer
