Determination of mass transport properties in food/packaging systems by local measurement with Raman microspectroscopy

A fast, nondestructive method based on the determination of local concentration profiles in the polymer thickness with Raman microspectroscopy is presented here. It was used to assess the diffusivity of a model molecule (p-terphenyl) in amorphous polystyrene films at 95°C (2.38 ± 1.08 × 10−17 m2/s). This methodology was validated by comparison with a more classical destructive approach based on the monitoring of the concentration evolution in the whole of the film with gas chromatography (89.4 × 10−17 m2/s). These values were in agreement with data available in the literature for molecules of the same molecular weight and temperature range determined with local measurement and were significantly lower than those determined by global measurement. Raman microspectroscopy was found to be adapted to slow diffusion speeds typically found in high-barrier polymers; this allowed diffusivity to be obtained long before the equilibrium was reached and, thus, without the need for the partition coefficient. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40958.