Preparation and properties of sodium alginate/feather keratin composite fibers

Based on the acid-alkali method to extract feather keratin in duck feather, the optimum conditions for extraction of feather keratin were studied by orthogonal experiment.The feather keratin and sodium alginate were mixed to prepare sodium alginate/feather keratin (SA/FK) composite solution and the rheology of solution was tested. The SA/FK composite fibers were prepared by wet spinning. The basic properties of composite fibers were studied and the intermolecular hydrogen bondsof composite fibers were characterized. The results show that under the optimum extracting condition (the temperature is 60.0℃, the reaction time is 120.00 min, alkali concentration is 2.00wt%), the feather keratin presents the largest production rate of 45.75%. The apparent viscosity of the SA/FK composite solution decreases with the increasing of shear rate and increases first and then decreases with the increasing of the feather keratin content. The addition of feather keratin enhances the intermolecular hydrogen bonds. The fracture strength of SA/FK composite fiber can reach 1.96 cN/dtex. The recombination of sodium alginate and the feather keratin damage the crystalline structure of the original molecule. The molecular structure of SA/FK composite fibers exist as amorphousstate. The surface of SA/FK composite fibers have a uniform trench structure.