METHODOLOGY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE VISCOELASTIC PROPERTIES OF BIOPOLYMERS

摘要

Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) has been previously used to study the thermal denaturation of collagen as a function of water content, ionic content, pH and other variables. (l) In this work, a type I bovine collagen system is analyzed by DSC and by Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA). In order to control the moisture content during the tensile DMA experiment a novel mechanical measuring system is employed. Tests were performed at forty and one hundred percent relative humidity. Single fibers, only 20 microns in diameter, were successfully extracted, mounted and analyzed under static and dynamic mechanical conditions. The comparison of mechanical and calorimetric data is made and the results discussed in light of structural changes in collagen. Much of the methodology discussed here is also applicable to synthetic polymers such as nylon which absorb appreciable amounts of water.