Films from an aqueous suspension of alkaline pretreated and fine milled chicken feathers

The purpose was to test the feasibility of preparing cast films directly from an aqueous suspension of alkaline pretreated and fine milled chicken feathers, and to evaluate the impact of different additives on film formation and the tensile properties of the resulting films. The feather suspension consisted of stiff and sharp-pointed fibers together with more round-shaped fines. Films cast from this suspension were opaque and porous. While films without additives were fragile with drying-induced defects, film formation was improved with additives, especially with ethanolamine and maleic acid at 20% and 30% concentrations. A synergistic plasticizing effect was observed with ethanolamine and formamide, and strength of the films was improved with sodium alginate. However, the overall impact of additives on the tensile properties in general and strain at break in specific was limited. This was likely due to the dominating role of the porous film structure and the stiff fibers with a limited reactivity towards the additives.