Polymer Films Analysis

RUTH MARÍA ZACUR; DANIEL RICARDO ERCOLI; GRACIELA SUSANA GOIZUETA

Granada

Congreso; EPF 2011, XII GEP Congress; 2011

Polymer films play a substantial role in the packaging of many consumer goods including perishable and non-perishable food items, medical instruments and supplies, and electrical components (1). Among polyolefins, Polypropylene (PP) is a thermoplastic with a number of desirable properties such as high melting temperature, low density and high chemical inertness. In addition, its low cost places PP in an advantageous position with respect to most other plastic materials. Also, adequate properties are achieved commercially through a biorientation process that enhance toughness and gas barrier of films. So, the biaxially oriented PP (BOPP) is one of the most used film for packaging applications (2). The complex technologies involved in the production of these films of thickness about 15-20 µm, justify the application of sophisticated analytical tools to solve processing troubles that could arise in some of the different manufacturing steps. The present work focuses on the study of the structural characteristics of defects of about 50 m on commercial BOPP films by Optical Microscopy (OM), Infrared Micro-Spectroscopy (IMS) and Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM/EDX).