ARS | Publication request: Vital wheat gluten as a filler for rubber compounds: effects of pH and homogenization on the reinforcement properties

Submitted to: American Chemical Society Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: August 18, 2008
Publication Date: August 18, 2008
Citation: Peterson, S.C. 2008. Vital wheat gluten as a filler for rubber compounds: effects of pH and homogenization on the reinforcement properties [abstract]. American Chemical Society Abstracts. Paper No. AGFD 177.

Technical Abstract: Vital wheat gluten was evaluated as a reinforcement filler in rubber composites. Previous studies of wheat flours that contained different concentrations of wheat gluten suggested that rubber composite reinforcement was directly proportional to wheat gluten concentration, although this effect may have been convoluted with the presence of wheat starch and other components present in the wheat flours. Vital wheat gluten controls are very rigid (G' > 100 MPa); a prerequisite for a good reinforcement filler material. In this study, an aqueous suspension of vital wheat gluten was added to a styrene-butadiene latex and homogenized with a high-shear mixing head. The resulting rubber composite was then freeze-dried and compression molded into bars whose rheological properties were tested. Reinforcement properties were recorded as a function of pH and homogenization time.