Thermal Degradation of Type I Collagen from Bones

MELANIA L. LAMBRI; ENRIQUE DAVID GIORDANO; PATRICIA B. BOZZANO; FEDERICO GUILLERMO BONIFACICH; JOSÉ IGNACIO PÉREZ-LANDAZÁBAL; GRISELDA IRENE ZELADA; DAMIAN GARGICEVICH; VICENTE RECARTE

Journal of Renewable Materials

Scrivener Publishing

Año: 2016 vol. 4 p. 251 - 257

The denaturation processes of the collagen in the temperature range between 450 K and 670 K are revealed through studies performed on cow rib bones by means of mechanical spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetry, scanning electron microscopy and infrared spectroscopy. The conformational changes of the collagen molecules from a triple helix structure to a random coil were found at around 510 K. It was determined that the transformation is developed through the viscous movement of fibrils with an activation energy of (127 ± 8) kJ/mol. The second stage of massive bulk deterioration of the collagen was found at around 600 K, which leads to the loss of mechanical integrity of the bulk collagen. In addition, an easy-handled viscoelastic procedure for obtaining the activation energy of the denaturation process from mechanical spectroscopy studies was also shown.