Water swellability and tensile properties of plasticized cured gelatin–trimethylolphenol blends

✍ Scribed by T. H. Goswami; M. M. Maiti

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 148 KB
• Volume: 71
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-8995
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4628(19990314)71:11<1721::aid-app1>3.0.co;2-q

✦ Synopsis

Gelatin has been chemically modified by crosslinking with timethylolphenol (TMP), which represents the smallest molecule of the phelol-formaldehyde resins, and exhibits high reactivity towards gelatin. Although gelatin is soluble in water in all proportion, the cured gelatin-TMP blends only swell in water, swellability decreasing with increasing resin content. They exhibit moderate tensile strength, but very low elongation at break. Elongation is substantially improved by using a polyethylene glycol, PEG 400, as cosubstrate to gelatin, which serves as a plasticizer. Binding efficiency of PEG 400 to the cured blend network, and the water swellability and tensile properties of the cured plasticized blends have been reported. Some practical advantages and possible areas of application have also been highlighted.