The Preparation and Mechanical Properties of Konjac Glucomannan Porous Material Crosslinked with Citric Acid

Konjac glucomannan (KGM) is used as raw material to crosslink KGM (CA-KGM) with citric acid (CA) at different temperatures (5~85 ℃). The effects of KGM addition, CA addition, reaction temperature and reaction time on the mechanical properties of CA-KGM porous materials are investigated. Orthogonal optimization experiments are carried out to study these three factors. At the same time, the morphology of the product is investigated with the scanning electron microscope. The results show that CA-KGM porous materials with good viscosity, water absorption and strong mechanical properties can be obtained only with appropriate amount of KGM and CA addition, appropriate temperature and appropriate reaction time. By optimizing the test conditions, with KGM mass concentration of 10 g/L, CA mass concentration of 10 g/L, reaction temperature of 65 ℃ and reaction time of 2 h, the tensile strength of CA-KGM reaches 0.95 MPa and the elongation at break reaches 16.7%.