Evaluating the physical, mechanical and morphological properties of sodium alginate nanocomposite film containing solid lipid nano-particles

Most of the food packaging materials are produced from nondegradable polymers which has become a serious environmental problem. Natural ingredients based on polysaccharides, offer an alternative for synthetic packagings that minimize the environmental pollution with a relatively low cost. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) on morphology, mechanical and barrier properties of sodium alginate film. For this purpose, the nanoparticles were added at concentrations of 0.025%, 0.5% and 0.1% into the alginate films and optical properties, tensile strength, elongation at break (%), Young’s modulus, water vapor permeability (WVP) and the nano-structured of films were evaluated. As SLN concentration increased,  elongation at break and WVP increased significantly (p<0.05), while no significant differences were found in the tensile strength and Young’s modulus (p>0.05). Films containing a high concentration of SLN (0.1%), were slightly yellowish in color and their opacity value increased significantly (p<0.05). The scaning electron micrographs showed that addition of SLN resulted in a hole-like structure in the film texture, which increased with nano-particles, concentration. Results obtained in the present work exhibited that the incorporation of SLN in alginate film was suitable for increasing the film flexibility but it had no positive effect on the film barrier properties.