Barrier improvement for packaging coatings
Development work carried out at the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV in Freising has shown that the barrier effect of protein coatings can be improved by a factor of 10 by adding nanofillers.
In the best case scenario, improvements by a factor of 16 were realised. The next step is to transfer these improvements to conventional lacquers and coatings in collaboration with industry. Packaging-related applications in particular stand to benefit from these improvements.
Various platelet-like nanofillers were dispersed in whey protein. Filler concentrations of 1 to 9 mass percent were used. The oxygen permeability was reduced from 34 cm³ O2 100 µm/ (m² day bar) down to 2-3 cm³ O2 100 µm / (m² day bar). The water vapor permeability was lowered by a factor of 2. A higher concentration of nanofillers led to greater barrier improvement.
The development work enables coatings to be customized with effective barriers to gases. The required thickness of the polymer coating will therefore be able to be reduced and sustainability and efficiency improved.
Further details of this study can be found in: Journal of Nanomaterials, Volume 2017, Article ID 6039192, 10 pages
Event tip:
Barrier properties are also one important topic at the European Coating Seminar on anticorrosive coatings. It will take place in October 2017 in Amsertdam.
