Fate of erucamide in polyolefin films at elevated temperature

Erucamide is incorporated into polymer films to reduce their coefficient of friction (COF). At elevated temperatures, erucamide may be lost from the film surface to the surroundings, undergo chemical change or decomposition, and/or migrate back into the film. The major objective of this work was to investigate the fate of erucamide upon exposure to a higher temperature (55°C). Trilayer films containing a polyolefin plastomer (POP) as one skin layer and LLDPE as the other two layers with erucamide incorporated in the POP layer were used. Based on ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, solvent washing, and GC-MS results it was concluded that, upon exposure to 55°C, the major reduction in erucamide surface concentration was due to migration of erucamide back into the film and a slight reduction was due to the decomposition of erucamide present on the surface of the polymer film. Polym. Eng. Sci. 44:2247–2253, 2004. © 2004 Society of Plastics Engineers.