The migration of additives from food packaging to food stuffs is kinetically governed by the diffusion coefficient (D) of the additive within the polymer. Food safety authorities have recently allowed the use of mathematical models to predict D, with the additive molecular weight as a single entry parameter. Such models require experimental values to feed the databases, but these values are often scattered. To deal with this issue, a fluorescent chemically homologous series of model additives was synthesized with molecular weights (MW) ranging from 236 g.mol (-1) to 1120 g.mol (-1). This set was then used to collect diffusion coefficients D through confocal fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). This microscopic technique allows in situ packaging micro migration tests. The FRAP method was tested against results from the literature before being applied to two different model polystyrenes in a preliminary study to investigate the relationship D = f(MW). Our intermediate objective was to compare various experimental D = f(MW) from our method with predictions from other mathematical or semiempirical models.
Published diffusion prediction models for the diffusion of additives in food packaging simplify reality by having a small number of parameters only. Therefore, extrapolation of such models to barrier polymers, larger ranges of temperature and/or additive molecular weight (M(W)) is 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 in the rubbery state (from 100 to 180 degrees C): syndiotactic semi-crystalline polystyrene and its amorphous equivalent. Variations in associated diffusion coefficient D and activation energy Ea with migrant M(W) and temperature were surprisingly low. Comparison of experimental behaviour with model predictions was performed. In their actual form, none of the models is capable of describing all experimental data, but there is evidence of convergence of the different approaches.
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