Viscoelastic properties of ϰ-carrageenan gels

Summary A study has been made of the creep behaviour of -carrageenan in the region of linear viscoelasticity in the temperature interval 9–50 °°C and concentration range 1.0–2.5%. It is shown that the rate of the elementary relaxation processes is independent of the concentration of -carrageenan. The following three temperature intervals where -carrageenan gels exist have been established: (1) the temperature interval corresponding to the stable helix conformation of the macromolecules; (2) the temperature interval of macromoleculer unwinding; (3) the high-temperature interval where the gel three-dimensional network is formed by the unwound macromolecules. The break-down enthalpy of the gel junction zones is 36, 234 and 36 KJ/mole, respectively.