Influence of citric acid and curing on moisture sorption, diffusion and permeability of starch films.

Starch films with different amounts of citric acid produced by solution casting were subjected to different curing temperatures and compared with films plasticized with glycerol. The films were tested in a controlled moisture generator, which enabled the moisture sorption to be measured and the diffusion coefficient and water vapor permeability to be calculated. It was shown that increasing the amount of citric acid added led to a reduction in the equilibrium moisture content, diffusion coefficient and water vapor permeability of the films, the values of which were all considerably lower than the values obtained for the films plasticized by glycerol. It was also seen that curing the film with 30 pph citric acid at 150°C led to a significant reduction in the equilibrium moisture content, the diffusion coefficient and the water vapor permeability at high relative humidity which suggests that crosslinking occurred. The calculated water vapor permeability data were comparable with the value obtained with direct measurements.