Films from spruce galactoglucomannan blended with poly(vinyl alcohol), corn arabinoxylan, and konjac glucomannan

Kirsi S. Mikkonen*, Madhav P. Yadav, Peter Cooke, Stefan Willför, Kevin B. Hicks, Maija Tenkanen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

66 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The improvement of mechanical properties of spruce galactoglucomannan (GGM)-based films was sought by blending GGM with each of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH), corn arabinoxylan (cAX), and konjac glucomannan (KGM). The blend ratios were 3:1, 1:1, and 1:3 (w/w), and in addition films were made from each of the polymers alone. Glycerol was used as plasticizer. Adding other polymers increased the elongation at break of GGM blend films. The tensile strength of films increased with increasing amount of PVOH and KGM, but the effect of cAX was the opposite. Dynamic mechanical analysis showed two separate loss modulus peaks for blends of GGM and PVOH, but a single peak for all other films. Optical and scanning electron microscopy confirmed good miscibility of GGM with cAX and KGM. In contrast, films blended from GGM and PVOH showed phase separation when examined by microscopy.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)178-191
Number of pages14
JournalBioResources
Volume3
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 2008
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • Blends
  • Dynamic mechanical analysis
  • Films
  • Galactoglucomannan
  • Mechanical properties
  • Scanning electron microscopy

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