Structure and properties of methylcellulose microfiber reinforced wheat gluten based green composites

Environmentally friendly green composites were prepared by conventional blending wheat gluten (WG) as matrix, methylcellulose (MC) microfibers as filler and glycerol as plasticizer followed by compression molding of the mixture at 127 °C to crosslink the matrix. Morphology, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), tensile properties (Young’s modulus E, tensile strength σb and elongation at break ɛb), and moisture absorption (MA) and weight loss (WL) in water as well as thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were evaluated in relation to MC content. It was found that addition of MC microfibers can significantly improve E and σb of the composite, which is accompanied by rises in glass transition temperatures of the WG matrix. Influences of MC content on the thermal decomposition and gluten solubility (GS) in water are also discussed.