Films Based on Mater-Bi® Compatibilized with Pine Resin Derivatives: Optical, Barrier, and Disintegration Properties

Abstract

Mater-Bi® NF866 (MB) was blended with gum rosin and two pentaerythritol esters of gum rosin (labeled as LF and UT), as additives, to produce biobased and compostable films for food packaging or agricultural mulch films. The films were prepared by blending MB with 5, 10, and 15 wt.% of each additive. The obtained films were characterized by optical, colorimetric, wettability, and oxygen barrier properties. Moreover, the additives and the MB-based films were disintegrated under composting conditions and the effect of each additive on the biodegradation rate was studied. All films were homogeneous and optically transparent. The color of the films tended to yellow tones due to the addition of pine resin derivatives. All the formulated films presented a complete UV-transmittance blocking effect in the UVA and UVB region, and those with 5 wt.% of pine resin derivatives increased the MB hydrophobicity. Low amounts of resins tend to maintain the oxygen transmission rate (OTR) values of the neat MB, due to its good solubilizing and compatibilizing effects. The disintegration under composting conditions test revealed that gum rosin completely disintegrates in about 90 days, while UT degrades 80% and LF degrades 5%, over 180 days of incubation. As expected, the same tendency was obtained for the disintegration of the studied films, although Mater-Bi® reach 28% of disintegrability over the 180 days of the composting test.

Gum Rosin as a Size Control Agent of Poly(Butylene Adipate-Co-Terephthalate) (PBAT) Domains to Increase the Toughness of Packaging Formulations Based on Polylactic Acid (PLA)

“…This behavior influenced the properties of each of the studied formulations, especially in those with 15 wt.% of GR where the processing temperature was reduced by up to 50 • C and the toughness increased up to 500%, compared to the neat polymeric matrix [38]. Finally, when the interaction between gum rosin and gum rosin derivatives with Mater-Bi type bioplastic was studied through microscopic techniques, the improvement of the miscibility of the components and the solubility effect conferred to the PBAT phase thanks to the compatibilizing effect of the GR and its derivatives were confirmed [39,40].…”

Manufacturing and compatibilization of binary blends of polyethylene and poly(bulylene succinate) by injection molding

“…In general, hydrophobic materials such as polymers present higher water contact angles. According to (Aldas, Pavon, Ferri, Arrieta, & López-Martínez, 2021) the range θ w higher than 65° indicates hydrophobic surfaces, while θ w lower than 65° is indicative of hydrophilic surfaces. The resulting blend of bioPE/ PBS is hydrophobic, this due the bioPE matrix (the majority phase in the blend) is a hydrophobic material.…”

Processing, Characterization and Disintegration Properties of Biopolymers Based on Mater-Bi® and Ellagic Acid/Chitosan Coating

“…The morphological, mechanical, thermal, chemical and optical properties of this polymer have been studied [ 14 ], and they have also been used for the formulation of emulsions containing dissolved biopolymers both in the oil and water phases for in vitro hydrophilic and hydrophobic dual-drug release [ 15 ]. The anaerobic biodegradability of the commercial biopolymer has also been studied [ 16 ].…”