Yu Xiaoyan, Sreenivasan Sreeprasad, Tian Kevin, Zheng Ting, Lawrence Joseph G, Pilla Srikanth
Department of Automotive Engineering and Clemson Composites Center, Clemson University, 4 Research Dr, Greenville, South Carolina 29607, United States.
Polymer Institute, The University of Toledo, 2801 W Bancroft Street, Toledo, Ohio 43606, United States.
ACS Omega. 2018 Oct 30;3(10):14361-14370. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.8b01336. eCollection 2018 Oct 31.
The presence of highly modifiable chemical functional groups, abundance of functional groups, and their biological origin make proteins an important class of biomaterials from a fundamental science and applied engineering perspective. Hence, the utilization of proteins from the animal rendering industry (animal protein, AP) for high-value, nonfeed, and nonfertilizer applications is intensely pursued. Although this leads to the exploration of protein-derived plastics as a plausible alternative, the proposed methods are energy-intensive and not based on protein in its native form, which leads to high processing and production costs. Here, we propose, for the first time, novel pathways to develop engineered hybrid systems utilizing AP in its native form and epoxy resins with mechanical properties ranging from toughened thermosets to elastic epoxy-based systems. Furthermore, we demonstrate the capability to engineer the properties of epoxy-AP hybrids from high-strength hybrids to elastic films through controlling the interaction, hydrophilicity, as well as the extent of cross-linking and network density. Through the facile introduction of cochemicals, a sevenfold increase in the mechanical properties of the conventional epoxy-AP hybrid is achieved. Similarly, because of better compatibility afforded by the similar hydrophilicity, AP demonstrated higher cross-linking capability with a water-soluble epoxy (WEP) matrix, resulting in an elastic WEP-AP hybrid without any external aid.
高度可修饰的化学官能团的存在、官能团的丰富性及其生物来源，从基础科学和应用工程的角度来看，使蛋白质成为一类重要的生物材料。因此，人们积极探索将动物加工行业的蛋白质（动物蛋白，AP）用于高价值、非饲料和非肥料应用。尽管这促使人们探索蛋白质衍生塑料作为一种可行的替代方案，但所提出的方法能源密集，且并非基于天然形式的蛋白质，这导致了高昂的加工和生产成本。在此，我们首次提出了利用天然形式的AP和机械性能从增韧热固性材料到弹性环氧基体系的环氧树脂开发工程化混合体系的新途径。此外，我们展示了通过控制相互作用、亲水性以及交联程度和网络密度来设计环氧-AP杂化物性能的能力，使其从高强度杂化物转变为弹性薄膜。通过简便地引入共化学物质，传统环氧-AP杂化物的机械性能提高了七倍。同样，由于相似亲水性提供了更好的相容性，AP在没有任何外部助剂 的情况下，与水溶性环氧树脂（WEP）基体表现出更高的交联能力，从而形成了弹性的WEP-AP杂化物。
