Mechanical and Barrier Properties of Hydroxy Propyl Methyl Cellulose Edible Polymer Films with Plasticizer Combinations

Abstract

Edible films and coatings have received considerable attention in recent years because of their advantages including use as edible packaging materials over synthetic films. This could contribute to the reduction of environmental pollution. Edible films of hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) containing mixtures of glycerol(Gly) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) as plasticizers were prepared by water solution caste technique and evaluated mechanical (tensile strength, elongation at break. burst strength, impact strength and Young's modulus) and barrier properties (water vapor transmission rate and oxygen transmission rate), color and haze properties were measured. Intermolecular interactions between HPMC-glycerol and HPMC-PEG were measured using FT-IR technique. Thermal properties were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry analysis. All these properties were found to be improved with variation of plasticizers concentrations. Practical Applications This work is on food packaging. Polymer films are edible films. These films are eco-friendly and bio-plastics and have good mechanical, barrier and optical properties.