Diffusion of homologous model migrants in rubbery polystyrene: molar mass dependence and activation energy of diffusion

Jérémy Pinte (1) , Catherine Joly (1) , Patrice Dole (1) , Alexandre Feigenbaum (1)

1 FARE - Fractionnement des AgroRessources et Environnement

The published diffusion prediction models devoted to the diffusion of additives in food packaging simplify reality by having only a few parameters. Therefore, extrapolation of such models to barrier polymers, larger ranges of temperature and/or additive molecular weight (MW) are still questionable. Extra data is still required to generalize these existing prediction models. In this paper, diffusion of a specifically designed homologous set of model additives (from 236 to 1120 g.mol-1) was monitored in two polystyrenes at rubbery state (from 100 to 180°C): syndiotactic semi crystalline polystyrene and its amorphous equivalent. Variations of D and Ea with migrant MW and temperature were found to be surprisingly low. Comparison of experimental behavior with model predictions was performed. In their actual form, none of the models is clearly able to describe all experimental data, but clues can be given, showing converging of the different approaches.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Domaines: Ingénierie des aliments

Jérémy Pinte, Catherine Joly, Patrice Dole, Alexandre Feigenbaum. Diffusion of homologous model migrants in rubbery polystyrene: molar mass dependence and activation energy of diffusion. Food additives & contaminants. Part A. Chemistry, analysis, control, exposure & risk assessment, 2010, 27 (04), pp.557-566. ⟨10.1080/19440040903441461⟩. ⟨hal-00576971⟩