Biodegradable PLA composites with different fillers for food packaging application

The food packaging initially born as a "container" of food for the sale of quantities defined in adequate conditions of hygiene, then had to perform the function of "protection" of the food in respect of environment. Today, in fact, the most important function of the packaging, when it comes to preservation technology, is to prevent deterioration of the food, to extend the duration of use of a food and to maintain and /or to increase its quality and integrity. So the main purpose of food packaging is to protect food from bacterial and chemical contamination and, where necessary, from oxygen, water vapour and light keeping the product fresh until use. The aim of this work is, therefore, to develop new film based on PLA for applications in the food packaging with improved properties such as barrier properties, mechanical, UV properties, antibacterial activity using TiO2 nanoparticles (modified by plasma treatment, and not modified), micro-particles of ZnO (obtained by a process of spray pyrolysis) and nanoparticles of MMT (modified by dimethyl dihydrogenated tallow ammonium). In a first step structural and morphological characterizations were performed, and then a particular study was made on the degradation of PLA composites. The incorporation of particles is an effective tool to control the degradation process in various media, so it was evaluated the UV, hydrolytic, enzymatic and thermal degradation of the PLA with the addition of different fillers (TiO2 , ZnO and MMT). In conclusion, the results are surely satisfactory because it is found that biodegradable PLA based composites can be used for food packaging application.