Thermochimica Acta, Vol.308, No.1-2, 75-76, 1998
Existence of gel-glasslike transition point in biopolymer gels
The existence of a gel-glasslike transition point in biopolymer gels such as egg-white is demonstrated with the consideration of the competitions of the free and the bound waters of gel, and a possible existence of the similar transition points are suggested for DNA gel, ribosome RNA/DNA mixtures gel, gelatin gel, agarose gel, konjak gel, and others. The time variations of the weight during the desiccation process of egg-white gel and several other gels were measured to be revealed as two or more stages. It is verified by the time domain reflectometry method (TDR) that the first and second stages are attributed to the lose of the free and bound water in the egg-white gel, respectively. The existence of gel-glasslike transition point may be a common phenomenon for materials in which the molecular network contains free and bound waters.
Keywords:EGG-WHITE