WATER VAPOR BARRIER PROPERTIES OF COATED AND FILLED MICROFIBRILLATED CELLULOSE COMPOSITE FILMS

By K. Spence, R. Venditti, Orlando J. Rojas, J. Pawlak, M. Hubbe. 2011

145 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Microfibrillated celluloses (MFCs) have mechanical properties sufficient for packaging applications, but lack in comparison to petroleum-based plastics in water vapor barrier properties. These properties can be modified by the use of mineral fillers, added within the film structure, or waxes, as surface coatings. In this investigation it was found that addition of fillers resulted in films with lower densities but also lower water vapor transmission rates. This was hypothesized to be due to decreased water vapor solubility in the films. Associated transport phenomena were described by the Knudsen model for diffusion but due to the limited incorporation of chemical factors in the model, accurate prediction of pore diameters for filled films was not possible. Modeling the filled-films with Fick’s equation, however, takes into account chemical differences, as observed by the calculated tortuosity values. Remarkably, coating with beeswax, paraffin, and cooked starch resulted in films with water vapor transmission rates lower than those for low density polyethylene. These coatings were modeled with a three-layer model which determined that coatings were more effective in reducing WVTR.

Subfields: Biomaterials, Biomedical Engineering

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/79de0c5fb053c0ff12ab3c03b40e2b6008f7fde3

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In Biomaterials

1. S. Boufi
2. P. Mutjé
3. M. R. Vilar
4. S. Alila
5. A. Chaker
6. Chuanwei Miao
7. Fei Li
8. E. Mascheroni

In Biomedical Engineering

1. S. Boufi
2. P. Mutjé
3. S. Alila
4. Chuanwei Miao
5. Fei Li
6. E. Mascheroni
7. L. Piergiovanni
8. M. R. Vilar

Citations in the corpus

• Key role of the hemicellulose content and the cell morphology on the nanofibrillation effectiveness of cellulose pulps (2013, background): “Recently, it was shown that by surpassing a carboxyl content of 3 mmol/g, a spontaneous disintegration of the fibres into nanofibres might be achieved almost in the absence of mechanical energy input (Tejado et al. 2012).”
• Cellulose reinforced polymer composites and nanocomposites: a critical review (2013, methodology): “In such composites, however, MFC was the major composition, and the best performing sample contained 95 wt% MFC.”
• Isolation and characterization of cellulose nanofibrils from Helicteres isora plant (2014, unknown): “(Kalia et al., 2009; Mashkour et al., 2011; Reid et al., 2008; Spence et al., 2011).”
• The Potential of NanoCellulose in the Packaging Field: A Review (2015, background): “On the contrary, Spence et al.201 underlined that MFC lacks water vapour barrier properties in comparison with oil-based plastics and suggested improving this property for packaging applications by using mineral fillers or waxes coating.”