Improvement of physico-mechanical, thermomechanical, thermal and degradation properties of PCL/gelatin biocomposites: Effect of gamma radiation

This research was to study the effects of gelatin content variation and gamma radiation after the 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (EHA) pre-treatment on the foundamental properties of gelatin film laminated polycaprolactone (PCL) biocomposites. PCL/gelatin film (PCL/GF) composites were fabricated by compression molding and their properties were studied by physico-mechanical, thermomechanical, thermal and degradation properties. The results from mechanical properties such as tensile modulus and impact strength of the composites increased with increasing of gelatin content up to 10wt% and then decreased while the tensile strength and elongation at break decreased. EHA monomer (2–8wt%) was added to the gelatin solution and films were prepared by casting and found to increase the mechanical properties of the PCL/EHA blended gelatin film (PCL/EGF) composites. Treatment of the gelatin film with gamma radiation after the EHA pre-treatment showed the best mechanical properties of the resulting composites. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis results showed that the storage modulus of the PCL/EGF and PCL/EHA blended gelatin film with gamma radiation (PCL/GEGF) composites was increased significantly. The degradation properties in water and soil were determined for the non-irradiated and irradiated composites. It was observed that the non-irradiated composite degrades more than that of the irradiated composites. •The effects of gelatin on fundamental properties of PCL/gelatin composites were investigated.•Tensile strength and impact strength increased with gelatin content up to 10wt%.•EHA blended gelatin composites showed higher properties than untreated ones.•The storage modulus of the treated composites were increased significantly.•Degradation tests of the composites were performed in aqueous and soil medium.