Journal article
Different Effects of Water and Glycerol on Morphology and Properties of Poly(lactic acid)/Soy Protein Concentrate Blends
Macromolecular materials and engineering, Vol.295(2), pp.123-129
02/12/2010
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/100485
Abstract
When containing extra water, soy protein concentrate (SPC) can behave like a plastic melt rather than particulate filler in blending process. In this study, blends of formulated SPC and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) were prepared. The effects of glycerol and water added to SPC on phase morphology, rheological, thermal, thermal‐dynamic, and mechanical properties of the blends were investigated. The results demonstrated that water was more effective in gelating SPC and transforming it into a plastic than glycerol. With extra water added, SPC in the resulting blend existed as stretched threads with certain degree of interconnectivity between the threads. In contrast, with only glycerol added, SPC existed as large SPC agglomerates. Consequently, the blends made from extra water‐containing SPC exhibited higher mechanical, thermal‐dynamic, and rheological properties.
Soy protein (SP) gelation and plastication is essential for preparing SP plastics and SP polymer composites. Water and glycerol are traditionally used together to facilitate the gelation and plastication process without distinguishing their different roles. In this study, we demonstrated that within the investigated concentration range (glycerol < 20%, water < 20%), water was more advantageous than glycerol in producing poly‐(lactic acid) (PLA)/SP composites with refined phase structure (interconnected structure in certain case) due to SPs higher flowability under water. The refined structure caused by water also led to higher mechanical properties of the composites.
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Details
- Title
- Different Effects of Water and Glycerol on Morphology and Properties of Poly(lactic acid)/Soy Protein Concentrate Blends
- Creators
- Bo LiuLong JiangHongzhi LiuLili SunJinwen Zhang
- Publication Details
- Macromolecular materials and engineering, Vol.295(2), pp.123-129
- Academic Unit
- Composite Materials and Engineering Center
- Publisher
- WILEY‐VCH Verlag; Weinheim
- Number of pages
- 7
- Grant note
- National Research Initiative of the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (2007‐35504‐17818) United Soybean Board (USB)
- Identifiers
- 99900546565401842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article