Effect of polyethylene wax/soy protein-based dispersion barrier coating on the physical, mechanical, and barrier characteristics of paperboards

• Published in: JCT research Vol. 18; no. 1; pp. 247 - 257
• Main Authors: Marzbani, Pouya, Azadfallah, Mohammad, Yousefzadeh, Maryam, Najafi, Farhood, Pourbabaee, Ahmad Ali, Koivula, Hanna, Ritala, Mikko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Chemistry and Materials Science; Coating effects; Corrosion and Coatings; Dispersion; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Materials Science; Moisture resistance; Polyethylene; Polyethylenes; Polymer Sciences; Proteins; Reduction; Slurries; Surfaces and Interfaces; Tensile strength; Thin Films; Tribology; Water resistance; Water vapor; Waxes; Wettability; Barrier characteristics; Paperboard; Soy protein isolate; Polyethylene wax; Dispersion coating
• ISSN: 1547-0091; 1935-3804; 2168-8028
• DOI: 10.1007/s11998-020-00403-7

Application of barrier dispersion coatings on paperboards, which must have proper moisture and grease resistance for food applications, has always been an interesting subject for the packaging industry. In this study, paperboards were coated with a novel dispersion barrier coating prepared through mixing soy protein isolate (SPI) and polyethylene wax (PE-wax). Different characterization methods were used to study the effects of coating and its composition on the physical, mechanical, and barrier characteristics of paperboards. The results indicated that the incorporation of PE-wax into the coating formulation caused significant reduction of the viscosity of coating slurries. It had no effect on the coating weight of the samples but increased the thickness of the coated paperboards as compared with those coated with SPI only. The increase of the wax content led to a reduction of 5–16% in the tensile strength values in comparison with the uncoated paperboards. Barrier characteristics, i.e., water vapor permeability (WVP), surface wettability, and water resistance, improved by adding PE-wax. In addition, it was found that there was a critical level for the addition of PE-wax, 50% of SPI, as no oil migration was detected when the paperboards coated with SPI coatings contained less than 50% PE-wax.