Abstract
The practical characteristics (rheological, hydrophobic, and mechanical) of biopolymer matrix are essential for its application in food. This work discloses how zein incorporation alters these characteristics of agar/konjac glucomannan (KGM) based matrix. The zein particles formed non-intensive interactions with hydrophilic agar/KGM molecules and thus weakened the chain entanglements in the agar/KGM/zein (AKZ) ternary solutions, which allowed reductions in the zero-shear viscosity (from 4800 to 600 mPa s), sol-gel transition point (Tgel, from 39 to 35 °C) and storage modulus (from about 16000 to ∼1000 Pa) of the resulting AKZ ternary gels. Also, such effects tended to enhance the agar aggregation (zein content: <12%) and the zein crystalline structure (zein content: >12%), reducing the dissolution rate and swelling ability of the acquired AKZ films (dehydrated gels) but increasing their Tg (ca. 10 °C higher). The tensile strength and elongation at break of the composite films reached ca. 70–80 MPa and ca. 5%–7%, respectively. The results here may facilitate the development of agar/KGM-based composites (solution, gel or film) with desirable performance.
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