Scientists from the Royal Swedish Institute of Technology (KTH) are trying to make high-barrier, biodegradable nanocomposites using a substance extracted from agricultural products such as wheat and corn to replace the current popular EVOH (ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer resin) .
Dr. Mikael Hedenqvist said that the wheat bran is very hard, its molecular chain is quite long, and wheat is also very easy to get and the price is very cheap. Nanocomposites made by adding nanoparticles to polymers extracted from wheat have excellent barrier properties and water resistance. The addition of a plasticizer made from sugar can improve its ductility and softness.
However, after adding 30% of the plasticizer, the permeability of the nanocomposite is 4 times that of EVOH. Therefore, the focus of current work is to continuously reduce the amount of plasticizer used to obtain the same or lower permeability as EVOH. The next step is to obtain a more excellent plasticizer to meet the requirements of ductility and barrier properties.
Dr. Mikael Hedenqvist said that although this technology will take at least three years to achieve commercial production, steady progress has been made. After successful development of this nanocomposite material, it will be expected to replace EVOH, which is widely used as an intermediate layer for packaging materials.
Source of information: pack.cn