Alginate–magnesium aluminum silicate composite films: Effect of film thickness on physical characteristics and permeability

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The different film thicknesses of the sodium alginate–magnesium aluminum silicate (SA–MAS) microcomposite films were prepared by varying volumes of the composite dispersion for casting. Effect of film thickness on thermal behavior, solid-state crystallinity, mechanical properties, water uptake and erosion, and water vapor and drug permeability of the microcomposite films were investigated. The film thickness caused a small change in thermal behavior of the films when tested using DSC and TGA. The crystallinity of the thin films seemed to increase when compared with the thick films. The thin films gave higher tensile strength than the thick films, whereas % elongation of the films was on the contrary resulted in the lower Young's modulus of the films when the film thickness was increased. This was due to the weaker of the film bulk, suggesting that the microscopic matrix structure of the thick films was looser than that of the thin films. Consequently, water uptake and erosion, water vapor permeation and drug diffusion coefficient of the thick films were higher than those of the thin films. The different types of drug on permeability of the films also showed that a positive charge and large molecule of drug, propranolol HCl, had higher lag time and lower diffusion coefficient that acetaminophen, a non-electrolyte and small molecule. This was because of a higher affinity of positive charge drug on MAS in the films. The findings suggest that the evaporation rate of solvent in different volumes of the composite dispersion used in the preparation method could affect crystallinity and strength of the film surface and film bulk of the microcomposite films. This led to a change in water vapor and drug permeability of the films.