Cellulose with Wheat Gluten as Additive

Because the rigid MCC structures lack sufficient mobility to sustain the severe shear deformation in ECAP, micro-cracking is likely to occur in the cellulose materials especialty at lower processing temperatures. Thus, amorphous natural pol3mer WG was added to improve the processability of cellulose. 

Ten to thirty percent of WG was mixed with MCC by ball milling the blended powder, and the bulk materials were produced by ECAP at processing temperatures as low as 125°C with no observable cracking [71]. The amorphous WG is believed to have 

Samples ECAP temperature (°C) Flexural strength (MPa) Elastic modulus (MPa) 

The DMA results of the cellulose/WG samples are shown in Fig. 5.8. The E values of the MCC/WG samples below Tg (ca, 20 C) were significantly higher (1.7-2.1 times) than those of the WG-only samples. Because the theoretical modulus of the MCC [72, 73] is much higher than that of WG, the decrease in E of the MCC/ WG qrstems reflected the amount of WG added the higher the content of WG used in the materials, the lower the E below Tg and the lower the 7 g.s,art value [71], 

High-resolution solid-state NMR was used to examine phase structures and intermolecular interactions between MCC and WG in the ECAP processed materials. Table 5.4 lists the H Tj data of cellulose, WG and the MCC/WG samples observed via different 

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