Simulations of polymer crystallization under high pressure

Nanoencapsulation of functional food ingredients

Many functional food ingredients are poorly soluble in water, susceptible to chemical degradation, and incompatible with surrounding food matrix. Other issues are related to limited oral bioavailability, unpleasant sensory properties, and poor release profiles. Nanoencapsulation of functional food ingredients can help increase their water solubility/dispersibility in foods and beverages, improve their bioavailability by exhibiting good dose-dependent functionalities, mask undesired flavors/tastes to reduce the adverse effect on mouth-feel, enhance shelf-life and compatibility during production, storage, transportation and utilization of food products, and control release rate or specific delivery environment for better performance on their functionalities. This chapter provides an overview of different delivery systems for different functional food ingredients, the types of materials suitable for wall materials or building blocks of nanocapsules, the fabrication methods to assemble different delivery systems and release these active ingredients under different physiological conditions.

Influence of processing parameters on morphology of polymethoxyflavone in emulsions

Polymethoxyflavones (PMFs) are groups of compounds isolated from citrus peels that have been documented with wide arrays of health-promoting bioactivities. Because of their hydrophobic structure and high melting point, crystallized PMFs usually have poor systemic bioavailability when consumed orally. To improve the oral efficiency of PMFs, a viscoelastic emulsion system was formulated. Because of the crystalline nature, the inclusion of PMFs into the emulsion system faces great challenges in having sufficient loading capacity and stabilities. In this study, the process of optimizing the quality of emulsion-based formulation intended for PMF oral delivery was systematically studied. With alteration of the PMF loading concentration, processing temperature, and pressure, the emulsion with the desired droplet and crystal size can be effectively fabricated. Moreover, storage temperatures significantly influenced the stability of the crystal-containing emulsion system. The results from this study are a good illustration of system optimization and serve as a great reference for future formulation design of other hydrophobic crystalline compounds.

A Dilatometer to Measure the Influence of Cooling Rate and Melt Shearing on Specific Volume

We developed a dilatometer to investigate the specific volume of polymers as a function of pressure (to 100 MPa), temperature (to 260 oC), cooling rate (to 100 oC/s), and shear rate (to 80 1/s). The dilatometer is based on the principle of confined compression and comprises of a pressure cell used in combination with a tensile testing machine with rotation capability. The design of the pressure cell is a mixture of a traditional ‘pistondie type’ dilatometer and a Couette rheometer, i. e. piston and die make up an annular shaped sample spacing. Typical dimensions of annular samples are: inner radius ri = 10.5 mm, outer radius ro = 11.0 mm, height h = 2.5 mm, and a typical mass of about 60 to 70 mg. Silicon grease is used to reduce loss of hydrostatic pressure in the sample due to friction occurring between the solidifying sample and the dilatometer wall. Specific volume measurements at low cooling rate using an isotactic polypropylene (i-PP) are compared with measurements performed using a commercial bellows type dilatometer, showing relative differences in the range of 0.1 to 0.4%. Finally, results for an isotactic polypropylene are presented showing a profound influence of cooling rate and melt shearing on the evolution of specific volume.

A Novel Dilatometer for PVT Measurements of Polymers at High Cooling – and Shear Rates

A novel dilatometer to investigate the specific volume of polymers as a function of the combined effect of pressure (100 MPa), temperature (300°C), cooling rate (100°C/s) and shear rate (200 l/s) was developed. The dilatometer consists of a pressure cell, which in design is a combination of a traditional “piston-die type” dilatometer and a Couette rheometer, embedded in a custom made frame, which allowed for scaling down to a “table-sized” machine that requires only standard laboratory supplies, like pressurized air and tap water, for operation and cooling. We implemented software for fully automated control of procedures to operate non-isothermal experiments with shear steps applied at predefined temperatures. The sample rings (m ≈ 65 mg) used in the dilatometer are made with a micro injection moulding machine. Experiments with two commercial isotactic Polypropylene (iPP) grades at low cooling rates, performed by two independent groups, were compared with measurements from a commercial confined fluids dilatometer showing small relative differences in the range of 0.03 to 0.3%. As an example, additional results of an isotactic polypropylene were chosen to show the profound influence of cooling rate and melt shearing on the evolution of specific volume.