Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol.84, No.6, 1193-1202, 2002
Moisture-sorption characteristics of starch/low-density polyethylene films
Moisture-sorption characteristics of starch/low-density polyethylene (LDPE) blends were carried out at 27degreesC for water activity (a(w)) from 0.1 to 0.9. The sorption data were used to fit six different sorption isotherm models proposed in the literature. The model constants were determined by linear fitting of the sorption equations. The ranges of applicability of water activity for the isotherm models reported in the article lies between 0.1 and 0.4 (monomolecular layer) for the BET model and between 0.3 and 0.9 (multimolecular and capillary condensation layers) for other models. The value of the coefficient of determination (R-2 = 0.97 +/- 0.02) confirms the linear fitting of the equations studied.
Keywords:starch;LDPE;sorption isotherm;water activity;polyethylene (PE);blends;hydrophilic polymers;films