Abstract
Polymeric barrier materials are critical in contemporary industries for food, medicine, and chemical packaging. However, these materials, such as PET films, are impeded by the optimization of barrier properties by virtue of molecular design. Herein, a new methyl methacrylate-methyl acrylate-diallyl maleate-maleic acid (MMA-MAc-DAM-MA) was synthesized to tailor the surface properties of PET films for maximizing oxygen barrier properties. During the MMA-MAc-DAM-MA coating and curing process, the chemical structure evolutions of MMA-MAc-DAM-MA coatings were characterized, indicating that the cross-linking conversion and proportion of –COOH groups are critical for the oxygen barrier properties of coatings. The inherent –COOH groups are transformed into designed structures, including intramolecular anhydride, inter-chain anhydride and retained carboxylic acid. Therein, the inter-chain anhydride restraining the activity of coated polymer chain mainly contributes to enhanced barrier properties. The thermal properties of novel coatings were analyzed, revealing that the curing behavior is strongly dependent on the curing temperatures. The impacts of viscosity of the coating solution, coating velocity, and coating thickness on the oxygen permeability (Po2) of the coatings were investigated using a gas permeability tester to explore the optimum operating parameters during practical applications, which can reduce the Po2 of PET film by 47.8%. This work provides new insights on advanced coating materials for excellent barrier performance.
Highlights
High-barrier packaging materials are capable of inhibiting the penetration of osmotic molecules such as oxygen, water vapor, and carbon dioxide, and they have been extensively applied to prolong the shelf life of food [1,2], cigarettes, medicine, and chemicals [3,4,5,6]
For polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC), the surface tension of emulsion is larger than PET film, causing surface cratering in the coating process to reduce the barrier property [43,44,45]
The methyl methacrylate (MMA)-methyl acrylate (MAc)-diallyl maleate (DAM)-maleic acid (MA) copolymer was synthesized from MMA, MAc, DAM, and MA
Summary
High-barrier packaging materials are capable of inhibiting the penetration of osmotic molecules such as oxygen, water vapor, and carbon dioxide, and they have been extensively applied to prolong the shelf life of food [1,2], cigarettes, medicine, and chemicals [3,4,5,6]. Two types of polymer coatings have been mainly studied to promote the barrier capability of PET films: crystalline polymers and amorphous polymers [34,35]. The former includes polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) [36] and polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) [37]. For PVDC, the surface tension of emulsion is larger than PET film, causing surface cratering in the coating process to reduce the barrier property [43,44,45]. An amorphous polyacrylate was synthesized by methyl methacrylate (MMA)methyl acrylate (MAc)-diallyl maleate (DAM)-maleic acid (MA) in the coating process, and the oxygen barrier properties of as-prepared composite PET films were investigated. The influence of the viscosity of the coating solution on the surface morphology of the coating, coating velocity, and coating thickness were investigated to optimize their oxygen barrier performances
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