Preparation of high thermal stability gelatin emulsion and its application in 3D printing

In this study, the gelatin crosslinked by Transglutaminase (TG) was applied to stabilize food-grade high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs) by a facile one-step method. The influence of TG crosslinking time on the molecular weight distribution of gelatin and the microstructure, thermal stability and rheological properties of the HIPEs were investigated. The results showed that TG crosslinking effectively promoted the production of high weight molecular. The obtained HIPEs exhibited a uniform droplet diameter and a good storage stability. An excellent thermal stability was achieved among the HIPEs stabilized by TG-crosslinked gelatin. After heating at 90 degrees C and 121 degrees C for 20 min, there was little change in microstructure and viscosity when the crosslinking time reached 4 h, implying that it could be stored at room temperature through high temperature sterilization. In the rheological analysis, the HIPEs showed a higher viscosity and lower frequency dependence with the extension of the crosslinking time, suggesting its potential application in three dimensional (3D) printing. The subsequent 3D printing experiments also confirmed that the HIPEs had a good printing performance, and some 3D printing models with different colors could be successfully obtained. This study provides a facile industrialized method for gelatin-based HIPEs with high thermal stability, and supplies theoretical guidance for its practical application.