Enzymatic surface hydrolysis of PET enhances bonding in PVC coating

• Author(s): Almansa, E. ; Heumann, S. ; Eberl, A. ; Fischer-Colbrie, Gudrun ; Martinkova, L. ; Marek, J. ; Paulo, Artur Cavaco ; Guebitz, G. M.
• Date: 2008
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/16432
• Origin: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
• Subject(s): Beauveria brongniartii; Polyesterase; PVC; PET
• Document Type: Article
• Language: English

Description

The effect of polyesterase preparations from Thermomyces lanuginosus and Beauveria brongniartii on the hydrophilicity of PET materials was assessed. As a result of polyesterase treatment the hydrophilicity of PET fabrics was increased by up to 8 cm in terms of rising height with increases in surface tension from 6.2 mNm (heat-inactivated control samples) to above 8 mNm. Both enzymes were able to increase the amount of hydroxyl groups on PET from 90 to a maximum of 182 mmol kg-1, while only the B. brongniartii polyesterase released significant amounts of terephthalic acid from PET. Enzymatic surface hydrolysis of PET increased the bonding strength in PVC coating to 13.40 daN 5cm-1 using 0.5% adhesive compared to 11.5 daN 5cm-1 obtained without enzyme pretreatment and 6% of adhesive.