Study of the Degradation of Biobased Plastic after Stress Tests in Water
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Materials Tested
2.2. SEM and Optical Microscopy
2.3. Raman Spectroscopy
3. Results and Discussions
3.1. Characterization of the Pristine Materials
3.2. Bioplastics Exposed to Water Treatment
3.3. Test on Unknown Packagings
4. Conclusions
- Room temperature exposure to water produced little effect on the characteristic vibrations of polymers, while treatment in water at 80 °C affected the bioplastics in a way that depended on the type of polymer and was more severe in the case of composite layers.
- Among single-layer plastics treated in water at 80 °C, the loss of transparency of PLA was connected to the peak shift in the stretching mode of the C–H group, while in CE the wrinkling was due to modifications of the C–OH bonds and of the acetyl group CH3CO.
- The composite sheets were the ones which were affected mainly by 80 °C treatment in water, with changes in the morphology. In these cases, we used Raman spectroscopy in different areas to map the occurring modifications. Those measurements showed that the vibrations of BB951 (CE/PBS) were generally maintained in the transparent areas, except for the C–C aliphatic vibration, while in the white areas some peaks of CE were lost (C=O bending mode, C–H bending, and stretching mode). For BB961 (CE/PLA), the modification observed was less severe with respect to BB951; in this case, the modification observed involved the C–H stretching mode of CE and a decrease of the peak relative intensity for the contribution ascribed to CE (peak at 353 and 1371 cm−1).
- To verify that a complete identification of unknown polymers is achievable, unknown packaging materials from the food chain were compared against the spectra database. This result suggests that the vegetable packaging was PBAT while the packaging for the fresh cheese was BB951 with the addition of rutile TiO2 for its white color.
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Abbreviation | Long Name |
---|---|
CE | Cellulose ester |
EC | European Commission |
FE-SEM | Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy |
FTIR | Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy |
MAP | Modified Atmosphere Packaging |
PBAT | Poly-butylene adipate-co-terephthalate |
PBS | Poly-butylene succinate |
PLA | Poly-lactic acid |
PVdC | Polyvinylidene Chloride |
RS | Raman Spectroscopy |
BB951 | Composite material coupling CE and PBS |
BB961 | Composite material coupling CE and PLA |
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Polymer | Properties | Applications |
---|---|---|
PLA | Biodegradable, high tensile strength, sealed low temperature, rigid refrigerated environment. | Bags, food packaging, and films. |
CE lacquered with PVdC | Biodegradable and thermoplastic, high oxygen barrier. | Films and filters. |
PBS | Biodegradable and compostable, blown and cast film extrusion, low resistance to humidity. | Bag liners, agriculture film, and other blown film applications. |
PBAT | Biodegradable, high water vapor permeability. | Shopping bags, mulching films, paper coating, labels, and other packaging materials. |
BB951 (CE/PBS) | Biodegradable. | Coffee capsules, ready-made food and, in modified atmosphere, cheese packaging. |
BB961 (CE/PLA) | Biodegradable, high water vapor permeability, increases shelf-life until 30 days. | Used for ready meals because it is transparent. |
Approximately Wavenumber (cm−1) | Vibration Associated to |
---|---|
288 | –C=O bending |
307–398 | Bending along the carbon-carbon, and oxygen backbones |
735 | C=O stretching |
872 | C–COO stretching |
960 | C–OH bending |
1037–1046 | O–C–C stretching |
1096 | C–O–C glycosidic linkage |
1130 | Asymmetric CH3 bending |
1144–1260 | C–O–C ester linkage |
1266 | C–OH stretching |
1330 | Symmetric CH2 bending |
1382 | Symmetric –CH3 bending |
1450 | Asymmetric –CH bending |
1723–1768 | C=O stretching |
2928–2951 | C–H stretching |
Polymer | Visual Inspection | Raman Spectroscopy |
---|---|---|
PLA | Lost transparency | Peak shifted: 2951 cm−1 (stretching mode C–H) |
CE | Light wrinkling | Decreased relative intensity: 1266 cm−1(C–OH bonds), 1417 cm−1 and 1460 cm−1 (CH3CO) |
PBS | Severe wrinkling | No changes |
PBAT | No changes | No changes |
BB951 (CE/PBS) | Severe wrinkling; non-transparent (white) zones appear | Peaks disappeared- white zone: 453 cm−1 (C=O bending mode), 898 cm−1 (CE), 1373 cm−1 (C–H bending mode), 2886 cm−1 (C–H stretching mode); Peaks disappeared-transparent zone: 1207 cm−1 (C–C aliphatic chains). |
BB961 (CE/PLA) | Wrinkling zones appear | Peaks disappeared-both zones: 2886 cm−1 (C–H stretching mode); decreased relative intensity: 353, 898, 1096 and 1373 cm−1 |
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Ambrosio, G.; Faglia, G.; Tagliabue, S.; Baratto, C. Study of the Degradation of Biobased Plastic after Stress Tests in Water. Coatings 2021, 11, 1330. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11111330
Ambrosio G, Faglia G, Tagliabue S, Baratto C. Study of the Degradation of Biobased Plastic after Stress Tests in Water. Coatings. 2021; 11(11):1330. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11111330
Chicago/Turabian StyleAmbrosio, Gina, Guido Faglia, Stefano Tagliabue, and Camilla Baratto. 2021. "Study of the Degradation of Biobased Plastic after Stress Tests in Water" Coatings 11, no. 11: 1330. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11111330