In this work, the influence of thermal and high pressure-induced pasteurization on the surface of thermoplastic packaging films and on a regular surface structure was investigated.
The effects were analysed systematically in 3 stages: At first, a screening was carried out on different monolayer films. The mean surface roughness (measured with AFM), the mean roughness (profile method) and the surface energy were used as parameters.
Regarding the effect of pasteurization on the average roughness, a significant influence on biaxially oriented monolayer films could be determined with the scanning force microscope as well as with profile method. This increase of the mean roughness can be attributed to shrinkage of the film. The necessary energy for this stress reduction was apparently achieved both in high-pressure treatment and thermal treatment. Thus a shrinkage and, as a result, an increase of the average roughness was induced. The effect was more pronounced at the high pressure treated samples than at the thermally treated samples. At the thermally treated samples, the increase in mean roughness shows a negative correlation with the level of the crystallite melting temperature of the polymes.
In a second step, the surface of two industrially used composite films was examined. The upper side of the selected films was made of a biaxially oriented polymer films. In addition to the parameters which were already used in the single-layer films, the tensile strength, the enthalpy of fusion and the melting temperature were also examined.
An increase of the mean roughness of the biaxially oriented film surface by a thermal treatment, which could be expected, could not be measured. Here the tray on which the film was sealed acts as an external force which counteracts the shrinkage of the biaxially oriented layer. The tensile strength and the thermal behavior of the composite films were not significantly changed by the different treatment methods. These results confirm the existing publications on this subject.
Due to the fact, that the energy which is applied by a high-pressure treatment or thermal pasteurization can change the surface of biaxially oriented films, in a third step, this potential was used for a targeted and process-controlled change of the surface. For this purpose, a profile was embossed into a cPP film. The film with the profile was subjected to a thermal and a high-pressure treatment with different intensities. The maximum depth of the profile and the depth distribution of the profile were determined.
The maximum depth of the profile was not affected by any of the treatments. In contrast, the pattern of the structure was significantly changed by a high-pressure treatment. The treatment results in a flattening of the profile. The flattening became more and more pronounced with increasing pressure. Whereas the profile of the untreated reference has an almost rectangular cross section, the edges of the cross section became rounder with increasing treatment intensity. This effect could be quantified by analyzing the depth distribution. A flattening of the profile could not be detected during the thermal treatment at 90 ° C.
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In this work, the influence of thermal and high pressure-induced pasteurization on the surface of thermoplastic packaging films and on a regular surface structure was investigated.
The effects were analysed systematically in 3 stages: At first, a screening was carried out on different monolayer films. The mean surface roughness (measured with AFM), the mean roughness (profile method) and the surface energy were used as parameters.
Regarding the effect of pasteurization on the average roughness...
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