Preliminary evaluation of packaging‐content interactions: Mechanical and physicochemical characterization of polylactide bottles

Abstract

Biodegradable materials as polylactide (PLA) are very interesting for cosmetic packaging application. However, these polymers, under environmental conditions or/and chemical treatments, can undergo "aging," compromising their performances such as container. The aim of this study was the evaluation of mechanical, physicochemical, and organoleptic properties of PLA bottles present in the cosmetic market. In particular, mechanical tests and thermal analyses were applied to study the PLA container degradation under stressed physicochemical conditions. Calorimetric and morphological analyses were applied to evaluate differences between internal and external surface of containers. Results highlighted that the heating process together with chemical treatment determined a significant modification on polymer, leading to a more resistant and fragile material, whereas the only physical or chemical treatment alone showed a plasticizing effect. In conclusion, this study represents a start point to evaluate content-packaging interactions to optimize the choice of PLA polymer as cosmetic packaging.

Long-term properties and end-of-life of polymers from renewable resources

“…Food packaging applications aim at substitute traditional polymers [3] [4] by bio-based polymers such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA) [5]- [8] or polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) [9], [10] , along with other polymers [11]- [13], blends [14]- [16], or nanocomposites [17] [18]- [21] [22] [23] [24] [25]- [27] [28] [29], [30] [31]. The focus is devoted to the combination of appropriate processability, good durability [32], [33] [34] barrier properties [35] [36] [37] [38] [24] [39], [40] and tuned biodegradability [33], [41]- [46], as well as to add value with natural additives [47], the combination of coatings [48] [102], [103] or goods as twines, strings, filaments and clips [104].…”

Mechanical recycling of polylactide, upgrading trends and combination of valorization techniques

“…pharmacology [4] as drug carriers [5], and packaging, as containers [6] for drinkable liquids [7] or cosmetics . One of the key reasons driving this growing interest is the incompatibility of the non-renewable polymeric waste with the environment where they are disposed after their use.…”

Forensic Engineering of Advanced Polymeric Materials. Part 1 – Degradation Studies of Polylactide Blends with Atactic Poly[(R,S)-3-hydroxybutyrate] in Paraffin

“…4,5 The degradation process of polylactide in various environments has been thoroughly investigated. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Natural poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) has found a number of applications in food packaging, biomedical and pharmaceutical industry. However, its use is currently limited due to the high cost of production and the physical properties.…”