New Natural Injection-Moldable Composite Material from Sunflower Oil Cake

Antoine Rouilly (1) , Olivier Orliac (1) , Françoise Silvestre (1) , Luc Rigal (1)

1 CAI - Chimie Agro-Industrielle

Through a twin-screw extrusion process the native structure of sunflower oil cake was completely transformed (globular protein denaturation/texturization and husk fiber defibration) into a simpler matrix-fiber structure, as could be seen on SEM micrographs. Further chemical reduction of protein disulfide bridges greatly reduced the melt viscosity of the moistened composite that it could be injection-molded. The molded specimens were tested and their tensile and flexural properties and water absorption calculated. Their water resistance appeared to be particularly high, and could be enhanced further after a thermal treatment (N2, 200°C). The proteic matrix seemed to behave like a natural thermoset resin. Sunflower oil cake could be used without any additives to make biodegradable, water resistant and exceptionally cheap materials

Mots clés: Biodegradable; Injection-molding; Protein texturization; Thermoset; Thermal treatment

Domaines: Génie chimique

Antoine Rouilly, Olivier Orliac, Françoise Silvestre, Luc Rigal. New Natural Injection-Moldable Composite Material from Sunflower Oil Cake. Bioresource Technology, 2006, 9 (4), pp.553-561. ⟨10.1016/j.biortech.2005.04.022⟩. ⟨hal-03599529⟩