CHANGES IN FREEZING BOUND WATER IN WATER-GELLAN SYSTEMS WITH STRUCTURE FORMATION

Thermal behavior of water-gellan systems was investigated by different ial scanning calorimetry. Bound water content in water-gellan systems was found to be markedly influenced by structure formation. In the low water content range [W-c=(grams of water)/(gram of dry gellan)=1-5 g/ g], water-gellan systems form a liquid crystalline structure. The amou nt of freezing bound water was dependent upon the melting and crystall ization process of water in the system. In the high water content rang e (W-c=20-200 g/g), water-gellan systems form hydrogels, when the free zing bound water content increases with the formation of junction zone s. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd