Effect of bee pollen on the mechanical and thermal properties of starch films

Abstract

The use of casein, starch and bee pollen as biodegradable materials has been promise. The objective of this work was the development and characterization of films containing casein, pollen and starch. The films were obtained by casting process and the solvent evaporation was performed at 40 °C/24 h. The films characterization was carried out by microscopy, thermal analysis, opacity test, mechanical properties and barrier methods. The starch films presented heterogeneous on microscopy analysis. The thermal behaviors of pollen films were similar. The formulation containing only pollen 3% was unable to form film. The introduction of pollen in starch film formulation improved the mechanical characteristic and thermal stability of films. Copyright © 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.