Properties investigation of polyvinyl alcohol barrier films reinforced by calcium carbonate nanoparticles

In this study, the potentiality of biodegradable barrier films prepared from polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) nanoparticles has been examined at different pressures and temperatures for film packaging applications. For this purpose, CaCO 3 nanoparticles, synthesized through a reverse microemulsion route, were loaded into PVA by dint of solution casting. In order to elucidate the influence of CaCO 3 nanoparticles on the PVA properties, morphological, mechanical, thermal, crystallinity, gas permeability, and biodegradability studies were conducted. Microscopic images revealed that CaCO 3 nanoparticles, with different concentrations (5, 15, and 20 wt%), were uniformly dispersed within the PVA matrix, and gas permeation analysis also showed that gas permeability oxygen (O 2 ) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) through the PVA films was considerably decreased with introducing nanoparticles. It was also observed that gas permeability soared with increasing temperature and declined with loading pressure. Furthermore, albeit over-loading nanoparticles (up to 20 wt%) increased the thermal properties of the as-prepared nanocomposites, the mechanical properties of PVA tapered off. Moreover, biodegradability study demonstrated that CaCO 3 nanoparticles increased the PVA degradation.