*mydirectindustry

Catalogs
Labthink Instruments Co., Ltd.
Verification Tests for Barrier Property of Starch-based Biodegradable Packaging

Verification Tests for Barrier Property of Starch-based Biodegradable Packaging

Product catalog summary

Introduction
This document discusses the importance of testing the barrier properties of starch-based biodegradable packaging materials. It highlights that poor packaging materials contribute significantly to food deterioration and emphasizes the need for evaluating the barrier properties of biodegradable films, especially for food and pharmaceutical packaging.

Significance of Testing
With growing environmental concerns, biodegradable plastics are seen as a solution to white pollution. The barrier properties of these materials, such as gas and water vapor permeability, are crucial for their application in packaging industries.

Starch-based Biodegradable Materials
Starch-based plastics are categorized into starch-filled and full-starch plastics. These materials face challenges like moisture absorption and brittleness, which impede their application. Research focuses on improving their toughness, moisture resistance, and machinability.

Testing Standards and Procedures
Currently, there are no specific standards for testing the barrier properties of biodegradable plastics. Labthink conducted tests using ASTM D 1434 and ASTM E 96 standards. The tests involved measuring gas and water vapor transmission rates using specific Labthink instruments.

Verification Tests by Labthink
Gas Transmission Rate Testing: Conducted according to ASTM D1434, the test involved preparing samples and ensuring proper sealing. The oxygen transmission rate was found to be 12.87 cm³/(m²·24h·0.1MPa).
Water Vapor Transmission Test: Following ASTM E96, samples were prepared and tested for water vapor transmission, resulting in a rate of 1849.079 g/(m²·24h).

Conclusions
The tests confirmed that full-starch biodegradable films have excellent oxygen barrier properties but poor water vapor barrier properties. Modifications, such as adding nano reinforced montmorillonite, can improve these properties. Despite their biodegradability, the high cost of full-starch plastics limits their widespread use.

References
The document cites various studies and articles on biodegradable plastics and their applications in packaging.

Catalog excerpts

Verification Tests for Barrier Property of Starch-based Biodegradable Packaging-1

Verification Tests for Barrier Property of Starch-based Biodegradable Packaging It’s estimated that approximately 35% of deterioration accidents of food during guarantee period are caused by inferior packaging materials. Meanwhile, about 65% of the food packages are with hidden dangers. Barrier property is one of the key indexes for the evaluation of the properties of packaging materials and shelf life periods of the packed contents. Correspondingly, the barrier property testing of biodegradable packaging material, a newly developed material in recent years, has become a research focus of the packaging quality inspection institutions. This thesis introduces the significance of barrier property testing of biodegradable packaging films, starch-based biodegradable plastics and the complete verification process of its barrier property by Labthink. The thesis hopes to provide guidance for barrier property testing for manufacturers of biodegradable packaging materials. Keywords: biodegradable, packaging films, barrier property, oxygen, water vapor, Labthink 1. Significance for Testing With the increasing consciousness of environmental protection, white pollution, a new threat for environment after the green house effect, has become a focus of the whole society. As the most effective way to solve white pollution, the development and application of biodegradable plastics has drawn great attention. In order to apply various kinds of biodegradable films to packaging industry, their barrier properties need to be evaluated, especially for packaging of food, pharmaceutical and every day-use articles. Some packaging materials have excellent barrier property that can prevent gas from entering into the package and follow-up oxidization or mildewing. On the contrary, some packaging materials have excellent gas permeability or water vapor permeability that helps gas exchange between the packaging materials. Therefore, water vapor transmission tests or gas transmission tests for various biodegradable packaging films are of great importance for property evaluation and further development of biodegradable packaging materials. 2. Starch-based Biodegradable Materials Starch is a kind of polysaccharide compound, the widely-used natural biodegradable macromolecular compound. Starch-based plastics refer to the plastics with starch or its derivatives in ingredients, which can be further categorized into starch-filled plastics and full-starch plastics. As to degradability, it can be categorized into starch-filled non-full-biodegradable disintegrable plastics and the full-biodegradable plastics whose main ingredient is starch-based biodegradable resin. Starch-based biodegradable packaging materials mainly include starch packaging material and raw starch & protein film packaging materials. Since starch is a kind of multi-hydroxyl natural rigid high polymer material, its defects, including moisture absorption, brittleness and difficulties to plasticization, have impeded the application of starch materials. Now, how to improve the toughness of starch-based biodegradable plastics, its moisture resistance and machinability have become the research focuses on biodegradable plastics. www.labthinkinternational.com.cn

Open the catalog to page 1

Verification Tests for Barrier Property of Starch-based Biodegradable Packaging-2

144 Wuyingshan Road, Jinan, P.R.China At present, no specific testing standard for water vapor transmission or gas transmission property of biodegradable plastics has been issued. Thus, Labthink made a barrier property testing on full-starch biodegradable film based on ASTM D 1434(differential pressure method) and ASTM E 96 (weight method) in its Permeability Laboratory. The sample is a full-starch biodegradable film with a thickness of approximately 380um, as shown in Fig 1. The testing instrument is Labthink PERME VAC-V2 Gas Permeability Tester and Labthink PERME W3/0120 Water Vapor Transmission...

Open the catalog to page 2

Verification Tests for Barrier Property of Starch-based Biodegradable Packaging-3

3. Verification Tests for Barrier Property by Labthink 3.1 Gas Transmission Rate Testing According to ASTM D1434, the specimen should be placed in the 23℃ dry environment for 48 hours. High pure oxygen is needed; uniform area should be selected without wrinkles, folds, pinholes or other defaults. First, prepare, with the sampler, three pieces of samples and filter papers respectively, as shown in Fig. 4. Before placing samples, smear proper sum of vacuum grease uniformly over the area which is 2mm away from the fillister, so that the sealing performance of the system can be confirmed. Miscellaneous...

Open the catalog to page 3

Verification Tests for Barrier Property of Starch-based Biodegradable Packaging-4

Fig. 6 3.2 Water Vapor Transmission Test Prepare samples as per ASTM E96. When cutting the samples, uniform area should be selected without wrinkles, folds, pinholes or other defaults as well as dirt or water. Prepare 3 samples (as shown in Fig. 7) with sample cutter. Clean and dry the water vapor permeation cup before placing the sample onto it. Dry state of the cup is a must. Then, fill this preconditioned cup with distilled water until water surface is 19± 6mm away from the sample. Take care not to splash the water onto the thread of screw, so as not to influence the testing results. Then,...

Open the catalog to page 4

Verification Tests for Barrier Property of Starch-based Biodegradable Packaging-5

Fig. 8 4. Conclusions It can be verified from the testing results that full-starch biodegradable film has excellent barrier property against oxygen, yet poor barrier property against water vapor. Thus, modification is needed if it’s to be applied as a kind of packaging material. A case in point is the full-starch thermoplastic starch, the production mechanism of which is to turn starch molecules into disorderly distributed structures, and then, forms into thermoplastic starch that has thermoplastic property. The structure of starch molecules changes, yet its chemical structure remains unchanged....

Open the catalog to page 5

All Labthink Instruments Co., Ltd. catalogs and technical brochures

Archived catalogs

*Prices are pre-tax. They exclude delivery charges and customs duties and do not include additional charges for installation or activation options. Prices are indicative only and may vary by country, with changes to the cost of raw materials and exchange rates.

Brand list