Influência de amido de mandioca e cera de carnaúba sobre as propriedades físicas de filme à base de goma de cajueiro

Abstract

The search for new packaging materials to keep or even improve food quality, at the same time reducing generation of nonbiodegradable waste, has motivated the exploitation of edible and/or biodegradable materials based on renewable resources. Film formation requires the presence of a component which forms a continuous and cohesive matrix. Starch has such a property and, being abundant and relatively cheap, is an interesting material for film formation. Cashew tree gum is a complex polysaccharide whose film forming properties are still poorly exploited. Polysaccharides such as starch and cashew tree gum, due to their high polarity, have good barrier to oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2), but high water vapor permeability. The incorporation of hydrophobic components such as waxes to polysaccharide-based films improves their barrier to water vapor. The main objective of this study was to develop composite edible films based on starch, cashew tree gum and carnauba wax. A mixture (simplex centroid) design generated 10 treatments with the following proportions (on a weight basis): starch, 15 to 30%; cashew tree gum, 75 to 85%; and carnauba wax, 0 to 15%. In order to check the temperature used is sufficient had occurred to starch gelatinization, one ray diffraction analysis - x (X-DR) were performed. The film characterization was based on the following analyses: tensile properties (tensile strength - TS, elongation at break - EB, elastic modulus- EM), opacity (OP), water solubility (SOL), water vapor permeability (WVP) and glass transition temperature (Tg). The relative starch:cashew tree gum proportions did not significantly affect the overall film properties. Incorporation of carnauba wax reduced water solubility and water vapor permeability, since it decreased the hydrophilic content of the films. On the other hand, carnauba wax increased the film opacity and reduced their tensile strength and elastic modulus. For elongation at break, the influence of carnauba wax was the opposite, i.e., the property was favored by the wax. The presence of wax in the film promoted the onset of endothermic peaks in the curve of heat flow. However, the films without hydrophobic content, endothermic peaks were not observed, thus we can conclude that there was an interaction between the materials used.