Effect of different percent loadings of nanoparticles and food processing conditions on the properties of nylon 6 films

Nylon 6 organoclay nanocomposites were prepared by melt processing using a twin screw extruder. Five different films were produced with five different % loadings (0, 2, 4, 6, and 8%). This study had three main objectives. The first was to investigate the effects of loading percentages on the barrier, thermal and mechanical properties of nylon 6 nanocomposite materials. The second was to study the effects of 0, 50 and 80% RH on the oxygen permeation of the nylon 6/nanocomposite films. The third was to investigate the properties of nylon 6 nanocomposite materials exposed to typical food processing conditions.;These films were tested for their permeabilities to oxygen (OTR), carbon dioxide (CO2TR), and water vapor (WVTR). Thermal properties testing on the samples included differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Tensile strength at break, tensile modulus at break, and the percent elongation for the five films were examined using an INSTRON tester. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to investigate the morphology of the five films.;Results showed that all gas barriers significantly increased with percent loading but there were no significant differences (P>0.05) between the 6 and 8% for the CO2TR. For the DMA, the storage modulus also significantly increased (P<0.05) with increasing loading except between the 2 and 4% concentrations. For the DSC analyses, enthalpy of fusion decreased slightly from an average of 39 J/g (control) to 32J/g (8% loading). The melt temperature also decreased from 227 to 222°C between those loadings. High pressure processed samples had the highest barrier against oxygen permeation when compared with the retorted and controls. Retorting seemed to reduce the tensile strength slightly; however, no significant changes in modulus and elongation occurred after retorting and HPP. These results showed that increasing percent loadings increased the stiffness of the material at the expense of its tensile strength. Samples with 8% loading, while showing better barrier in some cases, caused a mechanical weakening of the material not experienced at the 6% loading concentration. The data collected from this study can be useful to film manufacturers in fabricating nylon nanocomposite materials.