Thermomechanical and Antioxidative Properties of Monodora Myristica Infused Polysulfone Active Film Package

Natural antioxidant was extracted from Monodora myristica, a shrub grown majorly in South-East Nigeria, otherwise called “Ehuru” by the Ibo tribe in Nigeria. About 0 to 5% w/w compositions of Monodora myristica antioxidant extract (MAE) were infused into polysulfone (PS) resin. Another set of samples were compounded with 5% α-tocopherol (AT) in PS resin and other set of samples were infused with a combination of MAE and AT in PS resin. Tetrahydrofuran (THF) and N-methylpyrrolidinone (NMP) were used as solvents at the ratio 3:1. During the blending, mechanical, physico-chemical, thermal, morphological and barrier properties of the films were checked and compared with that of the pure PS. The antioxidative ability of the produced films was investigated using DPPH method. The results obtained show that tensile strength of the blended PS films reduced significantly with higher concentration of MAE accompanied with significant increase in elongation at break (EAB) when compared to that of the pure PS, while the antioxidative ability of the films increased significantly with addition of the MAE (p < 0.05). Results of the thermal property reveal that the glass transition temperature (Tg) for 5% MAE/AT active PS film was near 102.05°C higher than that of the pure PS. SEM micrographs showed a reduction in porosity of the pure PS films as the concentration of the MAE antioxidant increased from 1 to 5% w/w. Addition of 5% concentration MAE in PS produced very smooth and homogenous surface film without separation. The rate of permea-tion of oxygen gas into the active PS films reduced significantly from 0.1079±0.25 cm3s-1 to 0.0277±0.17cm3s-1 as the concentration of MAE in the film increased