Corncob arabinoxylan for new materials

Abstract

[EN]tCorncob agricultural waste was used as a source of arabinoxylan for preparation of films. Three ara-binoxylan samples were prepared: crude extract (CCAX), purified by a washing step, and purified bybleaching CCAX. Films prepared with untreated CCAX were water soluble, yellowish in color and had poormechanical properties. After the purification processes the Young’s modulus increased from ∼293 MPa to∼1400–1600 MPa, and strength was improved from ∼9 MPa to around 53 MPa, while the strain at breakwas kept at ∼8% both in untreated and purified CCAX. The contact angle was increased from ∼21.3 ºto67–74º after washing or bleaching CCAX. Acetylation of bleached CCAX showed the highest thermal resis-tance (325◦C), had low Tg(125 ºC) and a high contact angle (80º), and its films were stronger (strength∼67 MPa; Young’s modulus ∼2241 MPa) and more flexible (∼13%). These characteristics make purifiedCCAX a suitable material to be used as a matrix for film applications.