Preparation and Mechanical Properties of Wheat Protein Isolate Films Cross-linked with Resorcinol

The purpose of the present work was to preparation and study of full biodegradable Eco-friendly bio-composites by using renewable resources. In this study, wheat protein isolate (WPI) films were formed by cross linking with resorcinol through solution casting method for packaging applications. By varying the resorcinol content (10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 wt %), its effect on mechanical properties of the wheat protein isolate film was measured. The addition of 20% resorcinol led to an overall increase in the tensile strength from 5.2 to 18.6 MPa and modulus increase from 780 to 1132 MPa than WPI films. The % elongation was increased from 2.8 to 9.05 when compared to unmodified WPI film. A thermal phase transition of the prepared WPI was assessed by means of DSC. FTIR is evident that the characteristic WPI spectral IR bands shifted on cross-linking with resorcinol.