Dimer acid polyamide/montmorillonite bio-based film for the challenge of air cushions

Abstract

The increasing use of air cushions in transport packaging brings increased environmental damage due to discarded packaging. A possible solution is to replace petroleum-based polymers with dimer acid polyamide. This work studied the qualities of dimer acid polyamide films with montmorillonite (MMT) addition. The layer structure of MMT and the heterogeneous nucleation effect augment the crystal content of the γ-crystal phase. The oxygen permeability and thermal stability of the film improve as the MMT content is increased, while optical properties decline. The mechanical properties of the film are also affected. Finite-element analysis was used to assess how long air cushions made from dimer acid polyamide/MMT film can last. The results show that dimer acid polyamide/MMT film can fully meet the requirements of air cushions for short-term transportation.