BARRIER ENHANCEMENT USING ADDITIVES （势垒增强使用添加剂）.pdf

BARRIER ENHANCEMENT USING ADDITIVES Peter Maul President Nanocor, Incorporated Fillers, Pigments and Additives for Plastics in Packaging Applications Pira International Conference Brussels, Belgium December 5-6, 2005 Introduction Three decades of explosive growth have made plastic a dominant form of packaging worldwide. Among plastic’s attributes are flexibility, clarity, low cost, shelf appeal, and ease of transport, storage and use. But the most important feature for food and beverage packaging is delivering to the consumer products that are fresh and safe. This often involves maintaining performance over long intervals between actual production and eventual consumption. This time interval, commonly known as “shelf life”, is increasing as food and beverage producers seek to distribute their products on a global basis and as plastics encroach upon areas previously the bastions of metal and glass packaging. For many foods and beverages the limiting shelf life factor is the package’s resistance to gas intrusion, exemplified by oxygen and water vapor. For other situations it is retention of gases, CO2 for example, and aromas. In either case the solution is providing barrier to the movement of molecules through the plastic matrix comprising the package. This paper overviews general approaches to enhancing plastic package barrier and provides details about the use of additives to accomplish the goal. Particular emphasis is given to the role of nanotechnology in barrier packaging. General Barrier Approaches Even novice package engineers know all plastics are permeable, and significant work has been done to devise ways to improve it. The most common approaches are outlined below. Make a plastic article and coat it. Both flexible film and rigid container