Sorption properties of paper treated with silane-modified starch

Sorption properties of paper products are important when applying paper as the packaging material. Hydrophobicity, i.e. reduced affinity of paper surface to liquid water, is of particular importance from the point of view of the direct impact on packed goods. However, hygroscopicity of the material is significant during storage of goods. The analysis of changes in the hygroscopic properties of paper products induced by the treatment with silane modified starch was presented. The results on the hygroscopicity of treated paper were related to the previously published results on the hydrophobicity. The discrete values of equilibrium moisture content allowed constructing adsorption and desorption isotherms. The three-parameter Guggenheim, Anderson, and De Boer (GAB) model, the four-parameter Generalized D’Arcy and Watt (GDW), and Yanniotis and Blahovec (Y-B) sorption isotherm models were used to quantify the hygroscopic properties for all options of untreated and modified paper samples. The effectiveness of silanes for improving hygroscopic properties was determined and compared to their impact on hydrophobicity of the studied materials. It was found that 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane was the only silane improving hydrophobic and hygroscopic properties. The analysis of the applied models of sorption isotherms depicted that the GAB model was not valid for describing water sorption isotherms in the case of the tested materials, while the GDW and Y-B models provided a much more realistic description of water sorption mechanisms. The evaluation of the results of fitting the GDW model indicated that water molecules bonding to the primary sites was the dominating mechanism of sorption.