Characterization of metallic materials used in food packaging

Abstract

The work represents a comparative study of three type of metallic food package used in Romanian food industry. In this paper, three food packages made of low-alloy steel were analyzed. To characterize their properties, spectrometric analyzes were performed to determine the chemical composition, microhardness analyzes, optical microscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. The investigations on the three samples were achieved through X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF) analysis performed with a Spectro XEPOS analyzer, optical microscopy analyzes performed on a Reichert UnivaR optical microscope, and microhardness tests by the Vickers method using the CV-400 DTS tester/2 (CV Instruments) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) with JASCO 6200 analyzer, equipped with Golden Gate type attenuated total reflection (ATR) device. Following the investigations, the presence of epoxyphenolic resin was confirmed in the case of the first two samples and a layer of polyester in the case of sample three. Finally, conclusions are presented about the qualities of the selected packaging and their properties to keep safe the packaged products for a period of several months to several years.