Structure and Rheology of Gelatin Gels

Paper presented at the Royal Photographic Society Conference on Photographic Gelatin, Cambridge, 15-19 September 1997.

Abstract

This paper is essentially a review of past work, including structural and rheologicai studies on gelatin gels and progress made in the last decade or so. Now many aspects of gelatin gelation are unchallenged. For example, it seems clear that the helical junction zones do not have a large cross-sectional radius of gyration, and both the gel modulus, and the absolute optical rotation appear to increase slowly, but without limit, even when plotted on a log time axis. The implications of such work are summarized.

Other topics of current interest include the nature of gelatin gels at very long times (creep vs. dynamic measurements), large deformation measurements, mixed chemically and physically cross-linked samples, and also the future of bovine gelatin and the development of novel sources following the BSE crisis. These topics are discussed in terms of the author’s view of recent progress in, and future prospects for, gelatin research.

Notes

Paper presented at the Royal Photographic Society Conference on Photographic Gelatin, Cambridge, 15-19 September 1997.