Research of Polyvinyl Alcohol-Based Films as Environmentally Friendly Flexible Packaging
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Abstract
The growth in the production of packaging materials leads to an increase in the amount of waste. Despite the promises of manufacturers, polymer packaging waste is not recycled, and its accumulation and disposal is harmful to the environment. An alternative to plastic is the use of biodegradable polymers as packaging materials. The global market for biodegradable films is quite significant and according to the predictions of the analysts it will grow in the coming years. Therefore, the search and study of environmentally friendly film packaging materials, possessing the necessary technological characteristics, able to decompose in a short time and not harmful for the environment is an urgent scientific problem.
Among the biodegradable films, due to their water solubility and biocompatibility, the creation of film materials based on polyvinyl alcohol is very promising. In order to produce white films as a possible basis for printing the necessary product information, the colored film materials based on polyvinyl alcohol of Polyviol 6 04/140 and PVS 55/12 grades, containing inorganic pigments BaSO4 +2Al(OH)3 (printing inks) are manufactured. The resulting films have good physical and mechanical characteristics. The surface properties of the obtained films were investigated by determining the contact angle of wetting. The kinetic curves of the processes of wetting the films with distilled water and ethylene glycol have been presented . The values of the equilibrium wetting angles with water and ethylene glycol for films with 33 % of the printing ink is lower than that of the unshaded sample. Films based on polyvinyl alcohol of PVA 55/12 grade with 33% inorganic pigment in terms of external features, tensile strength, stretching capability , and surface properties show better characteristics. The research carried out, shows the possibility of using film materials based on water-soluble and biocompatible polyvinyl alcohol as biodegradable packaging. Their hydrophilic properties make it possible to predict the possibility of overtyping of the dyed films or labeling packages with water-based inks using digital inkjet printing.
