Today's Objectives
- Determine melting properties of zein film using DSC
- Identify gold in zein film using XRD
- Measure film tensile strength using DMA
Materials
- Zein film containing Au Nanoparticles, prepared at 37C
- Film was prepared by Daniel Catt on August 8, 2011
- Film formed in a plastic petri dish & cut for analysis
Data Analysis
Thermal Properties of Zein Film
DSC sample prep & thermal program
- TA Instruments Q-1000 with RCS cooling unit
- 2.95 mg in TZero Aluminum pans
- Equilibrate 35C; Ramp 10C/min to 225C; Ramp 10C/min to 35C; Repeat twice
Notes
- Note the thermal decomposition above 200°C
- First broad peak very likely solvent
- melting point at 133°C
- slow crystallization (small peak), though decomp may affect it as well
Crystalline Properties of Zein Film
Instrumentation Details
- Rigaku Miniflex II with monochrometer
- thin film placed on flat low background sample holder
- 5° to 90° at 1°/min
Notes
- no evidence of gold nanoparticles in film (Au peaks at 37°, 45°, 65°, 78° & 81°)
- broad peaks are characteristic of zein protein
- [Au] may simply be below the limit of detection
Viscoelastic Properties of Zein Film
Notes
- film was wet, flimsy, & cracked
- different clamp would be needed to test
- experiment postponed to a later date
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