1. Liquid crystalline, rheological and thermal properties of konjac glucomannan
- Author
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Vipul Dave, Stephen P. McCarthy, Mihir Sheth, David L. Kaplan, and Jo Ann Ratto
- Subjects
Circular dichroism ,Aqueous solution ,Chromatography ,Polymers and Plastics ,Organic Chemistry ,Glucomannan ,Concentration effect ,Apparent viscosity ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Differential scanning calorimetry ,Rheology ,chemistry ,Chemical engineering ,Liquid crystal ,Materials Chemistry - Abstract
Konjac glucomannan (KGM) exhibited liquid crystalline (LC) behaviour in aqueous solutions above 7% (w/w) concentrations as was determined by polarized optical microscopy and circular dichroism. The rheological properties of the concentrated LC solutions of KGM exhibited pseudoplastic behaviour. The fibrous extrudates retained a significant degree of flow-induced orientation as was determined by wide angle X-ray scattering, thereby indicating potential applications of KGM as fibres and films. Differential scanning calorimetry experiments showed that a significant degree of interaction occurred between KGM and water and that the KGM gels produced in our study cannot be classified as thermoreversible.
- Published
- 1998
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