Abstract:

In order to improve the extraction rate and application performance of wool keratin membrane, wool was dissolved by two methods including ionic liquids method and pretreatment-reduction C method (reduction C), wool keratin membrane were regenerated through different channels, and the performance and dissolution rate of wool keratin membranes obtained by the two method were compared. Compared to ionic lipuids method, the solubility of wool fibers by the pretreatment-Reduction C method is much higher, over 86%. It is indicated from the results of FT-IR that part of disulfide bonds was broken during the dissolution by ionic lipuid. It can be seen from X-ray diffraction that the regenerated membrane by ionic liquids method exhibited a β-sheet structure and the disappearance of the α-helix structure, while part of α-helix structure was remained if the keratin was dissolved by the pretreatment-Reduction c method.

Key words: wool fiber, keratin membrane, ionic liquid, reduction C method