A composite material includes biodegradable and/or renewable materials such as purified milk protein recovered as a byproduct in cheese making processes. The result is a material suitable for three-dimensional (3D) printing and extrusion based polymer processing, with improved properties but that is still environmentally friendly. Purified milk protein may be used to produce composite thermoplastic materials or resins. Additional chemical modification may improve the blending of purified milk protein.

The present invention relates to a process for preparing a polymer/biological entities alloy, comprising a step of mixing a polymer and biological entities that degrade it, during a heat treatment, said heat treatment being performed at a temperature T above room temperature and said biological entities being resistant to said temperature T, characterized in that said biological entities are chosen from enzymes that degrade said polymer and microorganisms that degrade said polymer.

The present invention relates to a multicomponent plastic product comprising at least two different thermoplastic materials, wherein a first thermoplastic material comprises a first thermoplastic polymer, and a second thermoplastic material comprises at least a second thermoplastic polymer and at least one degrading enzyme able to degrade the first thermoplastic polymer. The second thermoplastic material has a transformation temperature lower than the transformation temperature of the first thermoplastic material, and the first and second plastic materials are at least partially adjacent in the multicomponent product.

The present disclosure is directed to physical mixtures of diblock copolypeptide hydrogel (DCH) systems. These systems exhibit mechanical strength and stiffness that are synergistically increased over the individual component DCHs, to greater than would be expected for a linear combination of the components. Such systems may have utility in biomedical applications such as drug delivery.

Recombinant silk coated and/or infused materials and articles, and methods of preparing the same are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, articles include textiles, fabrics, consumer products, leather, and other materials that are coated with recombinant silk-based protein fragments, such as recombinant spider or silkworm silk-based protein fragments, having low, medium, and/or high molecular weight in various ratios. In some embodiments, articles and materials include dermal fillers and cosmetic materials such as moisturizers that include recombinant silk-based protein fragments, such as recombinant spider or silkworm silk-based protein fragments, having low, medium, and/or high molecular weight in various ratios.

The present disclosure relates to reversibly wrinkled silk-based compositions. The provided compositions are tunable and the reversible wrinkles are sensitive to water vapor, methanol vapor, and UV irradiation. The present disclosure also provides methods for making and using the same.

The present disclosure discloses a processing method for intelligent hydrogel from nano-scale starch particles, and belongs to the technical field of nutritional health food. The present disclosure uses dendritic water-soluble starch particles as a skeleton and utilizes a transglycosidation and chain extension-glycan entanglement reaction of glycosyltransferase to obtain an intelligent hydrogel having a spatial reticular structure. The product provided by the present disclosure is an intelligent starch-based hydrogel which has good rehydration capability, biocompatibility, strong gel strength, enzymatic response irreversibility, pH response reversibility, can carry multiple nutritional factors. The hydrogel provided by the present disclosure can protect and control the release of food functional factors, and can be applied to food, biological drug loading, functional materials and the like.

Disclosed are an oxygen barrier film, a food wrapper including the same, and a method of preparing the oxygen barrier film. The oxygen barrier film may include: a base layer; and an organic/inorganic hybrid layer located on the base layer and including a natural hydrogel and a silane coupling agent.

The present disclosure relates to anti-microbial film, and more particularly to anti-microbial film for packaging of a perishable item. According to an aspect, the present disclosure is directed to a packaging film comprising a polymer film having a surface, and an antimicrobial agent chemically linked to the surface. According to an aspect, the present disclosure is directed to a method of preparing a packaging film, the method comprising: (a) providing a polymer film having a surface; (b) modifying the surface by UV, plasma or corona treatment; and (c) chemically linking an antimicrobial agent to the modified surface. In an embodiment, the packaging film may be used in packaging for a perishable item.

An object of the present invention is to develop and provide a fiber-reinforced composite material having an “elongation” feature in addition to a high strength and a high elastic modulus. Further, an object of the present invention is to address problems of brittleness and peeling in the conventional fiber-reinforced composite materials. A fiber-reinforced composite material containing the bagworm silk thread as reinforcing fibers is provided.