Production of biodegradable packaging with sheep wool fibres for medical applications and assessment of the biodegradation process

Abstract

The aim of the study was to design and produce composite packaging using sheep wool fibre. An important aspect was the development of a fully biodegradable and thermally insulated packaging as an ecological alternative to the commonly used packagings for example expanded polystyrene packaging. The samples was produced by injection molding and examined under a digital microscope, goniometer, surface roughness were measured with a Hommel Tester T1000 profile meter using a TH300 sensor and a filter according to ISO 11562; infrared spectroscopy analysis was carried out on a Bruker Tensor 27 spectrometer. To evaluate biodegradability 4 samples (G 2, 3, 4, 5), were put in an aging chamber with two ultraviolet lamps with an intensity of 35 W/cm2 for 48 h. After that time, the samples were taken from the soil and washed with distilled water. One hour in the aging chamber approximates 5645 hours of exposure to natural solar radiation for 30 years. The second type of samples were extruded and then, they were thermoforming (hot pressing). They were examined under a digital microscope, goniometer and were tested for thermal insulation over 20 h. The composite packaging shows similar thermal insulation characteristics to those of the expanded polystyrene packaging. The addition of wool fibre caused the wetting angle value to increase. Surface roughness increased considerably with increasing wool content of the samples. No new chemical bonds are formed in the material. The introduction of wool fibres sped up the biodegradation process.