PROPERTIES OF THERMO-MOLDED GLUTEN/GLYCEROL/SILICA COMPOSITES

Environmentally friendly thermosetting composites were successfully prepared by conventional blending wheat gluten as matrix.glycerol as plasticizer and silica as filler followed by thermo-molding of the mixture at 120℃.The strong interfacial interaction between silica particles and gluten proteins leaded to an increase in storage modulus and a decrease in loss factor as revealed by dynamic mechanical analysis.The moisture absorption and elongation at break decrease while Young's modulus and tensile strength increase with increasing silica content from 0 to 10 wt%.However,the moisture absorption and mechanical properties show discontinuous changes at a silica content of 6 wt%.The glycerol content also has a marked influence on the moisture absorption and mechanical properties of the composites with a constant gluten-to-silica ratio.