Wheat gluten gels were loaded individually with either polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) or multi-million molecular weight polyethylene oxide (PEO). The wheat gluten gels were prepared by reactive blending of wheat gluten and a novel random copolymer, poly (ethyl acrylate-co-maleic anhydride), in dimethyl sulfoxide. The gels were loaded with broad molecular weight PEO with an Mw of either 2,000,000 or 5,000,000 or PVDF with an Mw 500,000. To characterize the gels, thermal gravimetric analysis, modulated differential scanning calorimetry, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy were performed to determine how the quantity and the molecular weight of the PEO and PVDF would affect the structural and thermal characteristics of the loaded gels. Modulated differential scanning calorimetry and x-ray powder diffraction were used to characterize the crystallinity of the wheat gluten material and of the loaded PEO and PVDF to ascertain phase domains and percent crystallinity in the synthesized material. Modulated differential scanning calorimetry results indicate that the wheat gluten samples loaded with PVDF have a 20% reduction in crystallinity of the PVDF when compared to the pure PVDF polymer. This reduction is not seen as strongly with the samples loaded with PEO. The PEO samples loaded with Mw 5,000,000 show a reduction around 9% and the samples with PEO Mw 2,000,000 show a reduction of less than a percent. This change could be due to differing interactions between the two synthetic loaded polymers. The modulated differential scanning calorimetry also shows a decrease in crystalline order of the embedded synthetic polymers. This can be seen by the shift in the Tm values for both the PVDF and PEO loaded materials. The synthesis method, PEO and PVDF and loading procedure, results of the thermal and XRD analysis and future applications will be presented.

Characterization of novel reactively blended wheat gluten gels loaded with polyvinylidene fluoride and high molecular weight polyethylene oxide

2019 Spring National Meeting

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