High‐temperature migration of antioxidants from polyolefins

Abstract

Migration rates of radiolabelled anitoxidants, Irganox‐1010 (I‐1010) and Irganox‐1076 (I‐1076), were measured from low‐ and high‐density polyethylenes (LDPE, HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) at temperatures up to 135 °C. Water, 8 and 95 per cent aqueous ethanol and corn oil were employed as food simulating liquids (FSL). The experiments were conducted in a high‐pressure cell in a manner that allowed contact between the polyolefin plaque and the FSL only during the test period and not while being heated. The migrations of the antioxidants varied with the square root of time, and the Fickian diffusion coefficients could be correlated with temperature in an Arrhenius fashion. Under comparable test conditions, antioxidant migrations were largest from PP for aqueous simulants, but for non‐aqueous simulants the highest losses were from LDPE. In both instances lowest losses were from HDPE. In most instances there was little difference between the migration behaviour of I‐1010 and I‐1076. A few tests were conducted to measure the antioxidant migrations to foods. The losses were usually larger than those to water but below those to corn oil.