Kinetics of droplet growth in gelatin/maltodextrin mixtures following thermal quenching

Rates of droplet growth, following the thermal quenching of gelatin/maltodextrin mixtures into the incompatible region of the phase diagram, have been obtained from turbidity measurements. The results from experiments carried out at temperatures that prohibit the involvement of biopolymer conformational ordering and gelation are in good agreement with those obtained by similar studies of binary synthetic polymer systems and with theoretical predictions. For mixtures that would phase separate at temperatures above the gelatin ordering temperature (T-0) but which are quenched directly to temperatures below this, droplet growth shows modified kinetics owing primarily to restrictions imposed by the viscosifying continuous phase. However, for a mixture that was initially observed to be miscible following quenches to temperatures below T-0, it is proposed that biopolymer ordering induces phase separation, which was found to occur after significant delay periods.