Preparation and properties of gluten/calcium carbonate composites

Environment friendly thermosetting composites were prepared by blending wheat gluten (WG) as matrix, calcium carbonate (CaCO3) as filler and glycerol as plasticizer followed by compression molding the mixture at 120 °C to crosslink the WG matrix. Morphology observation showed that the CaCO3 particles were finely dispersed in matrix. Incorporation of CaCO3 up to 10 wt% into the composites caused Young's modulus and tensile strength to increase markedly. On the other hand, the moisture absorption and elongation at break decreased slightly.