CHEMISTRY OF WHEAT POLYSACCHARIDE BEAD; FORMULATION AND CHARACTERIZATION FOR IMPROVED QUALITY BEAD

Beads are often small and spherical objects, made of clay, glass, paper, plastic, wood, or other suitable materials. They come in different colours, and usually perforated for a string to connect one with another; and they are usually used in making pieces of jewellery especially for beautification. This novel study was aimed at formulating and characterizing the production of improved quality bead from wheat flour. Hence, the chemistry of wheat flour polysaccharide bead involving formulation and characterization was carried out. Various composite materials such as zinc oxide (ZnO), titanium dioxide (TiO2), calcium carbonate (CaCO3), barium sulphate (BaSO3), CaCO3 + Plaster of Paris (POP) cement were used together with the base material differently. Results from the study showed that of all the composite materials tested, TiO2 based bead gave a superior quality over its counterparts and over the conventional wheat flour bead, as weight increased > 9%, fragility (improved from 20min/300m-s – 40min/500m-s), fastness property (improved from one month to over four months of testing period), reduced water absorption (improved from 4.02 – 0.78%), heat tolerance (improved from 50oC –> 125oC) and surface smoothness (improved from rough and unsymmetrical to smooth and symmetrical) and thus achieved a desirable product. The use of Fourier infra-red confirmed the addition of the TiO2 to the wheat flour with a resultant superior quality of the bead.