Work Hardening Effects in Gellan Gum Gels1

Abstract

Gellan gum is a bacterial polysaccharide that is marketed as a broad spectrum gelling agent. The shear and Young's moduli, and the fracture strength of gellan gels increase with increasing ionic strength, pass through maxima and then decrease to zero at higher ionic strength. The position of the maxima depend on the valency of added counterions and are virtually independent of polymer concentration. At low ionic strength the measured rheological parameters show small variability but these values become increasingly variable with increasing ionic strength. Stress relaxation experiments were carried out in order to examine the mechanical behaviour of gellan gels and to explain these effects. At low ionic strength the gels approximate to elastic solids whereas at high ionic strength the increased stress relaxation is colloid-like in behaviour. However, unlike colloidal dispersions, the magnitude of the stress relaxation decreases on successive applications of stress and the relaxation modulus increases. The gels work harden. Such behaviour is attributed to a heterogeneous structure within the gel.