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ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
The drying behavior of thin films has been most extensively studied in the
synthetic polymer industry, particularly in paints and latexes (Pramojaney 1980).
However, drying behaviors of various edible films have yet to be explored.
Drying behavior is important to future application work where the films act as
edible coatings on foods. There is limited reference literature available regarding
measuring and/or modeling 'drying rates of edible films. Only fundamental
information regarding basic drying of foods and food dehydration (Baker 1993;
Bimbenet 1985; Chirife 1983; Karel 1983; Ozilgen 1994; Potter 1986; Rotstein
1990) is available for evaluating the drying of thin edible films.
' Present Address: Nutrilite Division-Amway C o p . , 19600 6th St., Lakeview, CA 92567-8403
To whom correspondence should be addressed.
WP1:Gly Film Drying Temperature Drying Relative C W b Drying Rate Equilibrium Moisture
Humidity Content Me
TABLE 2.
DRYING RATES* AND EQUILIBRIUM MOISTURE CONTENTS OF 5050 AND 60:40 WP1:GLY THINNER (3.0g DWS") FILMS
_____
WP1:Gly Film Drying Temperature Drying Relative CRPbDrying Rate Equilibrium Moisture
Humidity Content
were manually sent to the PC and the chamber door was closed. Data were
subsequently captured onto the PC screen and the floppy disk at the desired time
intervals, and the drying rate experiment was manually stopped when weight
data did not change more than +O.Olg/gDWS between weighings. The dried
film was carefully peeled intact from the casting surface and was stored between
round filter papers in a LDPE bag at dry, ambient conditions until further
analyzed.
The relative humidity underneath the film was calculated according the method
outlined by McHugh el al. (1993). Moisture loss from the cups through the
films was determined by periodically opening the constant RH chamber and
weighing the cups. Steady-state moisture loss from the cups, which allowed the
determination of WVP, was achieved in each case within 6 h. Triplicates were
performed for each dried film type and for each relative humidity gradient
condition. Ten data points were recorded within a 24 h period for each
triplicate.
Thickness Measurements
Thicknesses of individual films were measured to f 10 pm with a caliper
micrometer (Mitutuyo Mfg. Co. Ltd. #7326, Tokyo, Japan) at 5 random
positions following WVP measurements, and were averaged for WVP
calculations. Thicknesses for tensile testing were measured from 5 random
positions on each film strip after preconditioning and prior to testing. Five
thickness measurements were averaged per strip prior to tensile testing.
Statistical Analysis
Differences in water vapor permeability and mechanical properties among
dried film samples were analyzed statistically by multi-factor Analysis of
Variance and Duncan/Tukey tests (a! = 0.05) on SAS (SAS Institute, Cary, NC
1995). Subsequent analysis against the films dried at uncontrolled room
temperature and relative humidity was performed with a two-sided alternatives
test (Walpole et al. 1993).
Drying Characteristics
Drying rate results are shown in Table 1 (for the thicker films with 4.0
gDWS) and in Table 2 (for the thinner films with 3.0 gDWS). At 21C and
50%RH, films dried within 20 h; and at 95C and 30%RH, films dried within
2 h. For the films dried at 95C and 30%RH, bubbles were apparent to the eye
when the film was peeled off the casting surface. Possibly, air or water vapor
bubbles formed beneath the film surfaces were unable to escape through the film
at the higher drying temperature and lower relative humidity. Also at this more
extreme drying condition, rippling was noticed on the surface of the dried film.
In addition, films dried at 95C and 30%RHappeared slightly yellowish and had
a slight burnt protein aroma. In comparison, the films dried at uncontrolled
room conditions and at 21C and 50%RH appeared transparent, colorless, and
odorless.
396 C. ALCANTARA, T. RUMSEY and J. KROCHTA
Mechanical Properties
Tensile test results are shown in Table 3. Drying at 9% and 30%RH
generally gave smaller dry film thicknesses and increased the Young’s modulus
(measure of film stiffness), both for 5050 and 60:40 WP1:Gly films. Drying at
95C and 30%RH appeared to increase film TS, but the effect was significant
only with 3.0g DWS 60:40 WP1:Gly films. Finally, drying at 95C and 30%RH
appeared to decrease film ability to elongate before failure, but the effect was
significant only with 4.0g DWS 60:40 WP1:Gly films.
The higher amount of Gly in the 5030 WP1:Gly films produced a
significantly lower Young’s modulus and lower tensile strength than that
obtained for 60:40 WP1:Gly films, which indicated that the 5050 WP1:Gly films
were more flexible and less strong, respectively. Generally, higher Gly content
increased ultimate elongation, but the effect was significant only for thicker
films (4.0g DWS) dried at 95C and 30%RH.
showed that thinner films would hypothetically be weaker coatings. Films with
higher Gly content exhibited decreases in both Young’s Modulus and tensile
strength. But since higher Gly content increased the calculated hypothetical
coating strength, the effect of Gly was greater on Young’s Modulus.
The films with the higher glycerol plasticizer content exhibited higher WVP than
films with the lower glycerol content. The effect of more rapid drying was
comparable to the effect of lower glycerol content on WVP.
TABLE 4.
WATER VAPOR PERMEABILITY* OF S0:SO AND 60:40 WP1:GLY FILMS (4.0g DWS)
DRIED AT 21C, 50% RH AND 95C. 30% RH
5050 20-23* 30-56 0.18 & 0.01 44/26 2.91 5 0.23 iii
21 50 0.17+0.04 44/26 3.4020.39'
9s 30 0.13 F 0.01 44/26 2.24 5 0.22 iv
CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES
WALPOLE, R.E. and MYERS, R.H. 1993. Probability and Statistics for
Engineers andScientists. 5th Ed., pp. 485-486, Macmillam Publishing Co.,
New York.
WU, C. and YAN, C.Y. 1994. Studies of the swelling and drying kinetics of
thin gelatin gel films by in situ interferometry. Macromolecules 27,
44 16-4520.
YAMAMOTO, S., HOSHIKA, M. and SANO, Y. 1985. Determination of
concentration dependent diffusion coefficient from drying rates. In Drying
'85. (A.S. Mujumdar, ed.) pp. 490-497, Hemisphere Publication Corp.,
Washington, D. C.