Carvacrol as an antimicrobial agent for poly(butylene succinate): Tensile properties and antimicrobial activity observations

Abstract

This research aims to study the influences of carvacrol essential oil on the tensile properties and antimicrobial activity of food packages prepared from poly(butylene succinate) (PBS). Overall, the tensile strength and tensile modulus of the PBS film decreased with the addition of carvacrol beyond 4wt%. PBS elongated to a greater extent when carvacrol was employed; the elongation reached its maximum level at 19% when carvacrol was added at 10wt%. The water vapor permeation (WVP) and oxygen permeation (OP) of PBS/carvacrol films tended to increase with increasing carvacrol content due to the vaporization of some carvacrol. Carvacrol was found to effectively inhibit microorganism growth; its antimicrobial activity against S.arious growth was evident when 4wt% of carvacrol was compounded with PBS while that against E.coli growth was found only when 10wt% of carvacrol was employed. © (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.