Variations of Mechanical Properties in Egg White during Gel-to-Glasslike Transition

Abstract

Simultaneous measurements of weight, volume and mechanical properties have been performed during the gel-to-glasslike transition of heat-treated egg-white gel. Change in the elastic stiffness occurred in three steps: in the initial stage, it remained almost constant, then increased exponentially, and lastly, saturation was attained. The saturation point almost coincided with the characteristic time at which the rates of decrease of the weight and volume changed. In addition, from the time dependence of the differentiated values, the close correlation between the elastic stiffness and weight was revealed. It was also found that the loss of free water induces an increase of about a thousardfold in elastic stiffness of gels during transition.

Water-Triggered Ductile–Brittle Transition of Anisotropic Lamellar Hydrogels and Effect of Confinement on Polymer Dynamics

“…The hydration plays an important role in the dynamics and mechanical properties of the biotissues. The soft tissues usually become rigid upon dehydration to some critical water contents. − The mechanical transition behavior upon dehydration is quite similar to the glass transition of noncrystalline polymers.…”

SAXS Studies of Heterogeneous NIPA/SA Gels

“…Besides, the dehydration of the hydrogel gives rise to the vitrification of the hydrogels [8][9][10][11][12]. Moreover, the resemblance between the dehydration process and the volume phase transition seems still important, because the related interactions are almost same between the dehydration process and the volume phase transition of the NIPA/SA gel and the properties of both the dehydrated NIPA/SA gel and shrunk NIPA/AAc gel by the volume phase transition should be almost identical.…”

Kinetics of Network Formation and Heterogeneous Dynamics of an Egg White Gel Revealed by Coherent X-Ray Scattering

“…Egg white, apart from being a major protein source in our daily diet, is one of the most versatile products in the food industry due to its multifunctional properties such as foaming, emulsifying, and gelling [1][2][3][4][5]. Gelation of proteins [6], especially as a result of heat-induced denaturation, leads to a three-dimensional network structure through the formation of disulfide cross-links and hydrogen bonds [1,7,8].…”