Effect of Temperature and Mechanical Stress on Barrier Properties of Polymeric Films Used for Food Packaging

Saša Mrkić , Kata Galić (1) , Marica Ivanković (2)

1 Faculty of Food Technology & Biotechnology [Zagreb]
2 Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology [Zagreb]

The permeance of carbon dioxide, oxygen, nitrogen, and air through commercial polymers based on polyethylene (PE), biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP), and polyamide (PA) used for food packaging is reported. The influence of temperature (from 10 to 60C) and crease stress cycles (30, 50, 70, and 110) on gas permeance is also analyzed. Generally, the highest changes in gas permeance changes with increased stress cycles are observed with films having a metallized layer in the structure, namely BOPPcoex/BOPPcoex.met and, to a lesser extent, BOPPcoex.met/PE laminate. The lowest crease stress influence on barrier properties is obtained for PE film. In this case, the highest activation energy for the permeability coefficient (P) is obtained. Normal progressions of activation energies for P are: N = Air>CO>O.

Mots clés: Crease strains; gas permeance; laminates; films; flex tests.; flex tests

Saša Mrkić, Kata Galić, Marica Ivanković. Effect of Temperature and Mechanical Stress on Barrier Properties of Polymeric Films Used for Food Packaging. Journal of Plastic Film and Sheeting, 2007, 23 (3), pp.239-256. ⟨10.1177/8756087907086102⟩. ⟨hal-00572074⟩