Food Hydrocolloids 43 (2015) 290e298

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Food Hydrocolloids
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodhyd

Characterisation of a new biodegradable edible lm based on sage

seed gum: Inuence of plasticiser type and concentration
Seyed Mohammad Ali Razavi*, Asad Mohammad Amini, Younes Zahedi
Food Hydrocolloids Research Centre, Department of Food Science and Technology, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (FUM), PO Box 91775-1163, Mashhad,
Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 21 December 2013
Accepted 30 May 2014
Available online 14 June 2014

The present work dealt with investigating physicochemical, barrier, mechanical and surface properties of
sage seed gum (SSG) edible lms as a function of plasticiser type (glycerol and sorbitol) and concentration (20, 40, 60, 80 & 100, w/w%). Based on the results, it was revealed that glycerol and sorbitol
effectively plasticise the lms of SSG while glycerol efciency was higher than sorbitol. Although the
lms plasticised by glycerol were of high moisture content (27e49%), moisture uptake (110e140%) and
solubility in water (~80%), but they exhibited low permeability to water vapour, acceptable mechanical
properties, surface hydrophilicity, and transparency. In contrast, the lms plasticised by different concentrations of sorbitol exhibited a low moisture content (~14%), water vapour permeability (lower than
4
1011 g/m.s.Pa), and moisture uptake (below 90%) with high surface hydrophobicity but less desirable
mechanical properties. The probable mechanisms of plasticising are discussed in details regarding the
observed characteristics of SSG edible lms. Concluding, the lms of SSG in present work showed a
substantial potential to be incorporated in food packaging applications.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Edible lm
Glycerol
Mechanical properties
Permeability
Sage seed gum
Sorbitol

1. Introduction
Nowadays, due to the non-degradability of synthetic packaging
materials, there have been increasing research interests toward
natural resources to produce biodegradable edible lms. These
studies mainly focused on developing edible lms and improving
their characteristics to exert the main desired features of conventional synthetic materials, such as high mechanical strength, softness, lightness, transparency, water resistance, and so on.
The major potential alternatives to plastics, which have been
studied extensively, are biopolymers including polysaccharides,
proteins, and lipids. Based on the diversity, availability, and unique
characteristics, most effort has been put on studying the lm
forming and characterisation of edible lms from hydrocolloids of
different sources with diverse chemical structures, e.g. keran,
Opuntia nopal mucilage, psyllium mucilage, starches of different
sources, gellan, cress seed gum, guar, locust bean gum (LBG),
hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), alginate, chitosan, agar,
and gelatin (Ahmadi, Kalbasi-Ashtari, Oromiehie, Yarmand, &
Jahandideh, 2012; Bergo et al., 2008; Dias, Muller, Larotonda, &

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 98 511 8795618; fax: 98 511 8787430.

E-mail addresses: s.razavi@um.ac.ir, sma_razavi@yahoo.com (S.M.A. Razavi).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2014.05.028
0268-005X/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Laurindo, 2010; Espino-Diaz et al., 2010; Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan, &

Oromiehie, 2011; Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan, Oromiehie, & Yarmand,
2011; Imran, El-Fahmy, Revol-Junelles, & Desobry, 2010; Jouki,
Khazaei, Ghasemlou, & HadiNezhad, 2013; Laohakunjit & Noomhorm, 2004; Mikkonen et al., 2007; Olivas & Barbosa-Canovas,
2008; Phan, Debeaufort, Luu, & Voilley, 2005; Piermaria et al.,
2011; Piermaria, Pinotti, Garcia, & Abraham, 2009; Rivero, Garcia, &
Pinotti, 2010; Seyedi, Koocheki, Mohebbi, & Zahedi, 2014; Thakhiew, Devahastin, & Soponronnarit, 2010; Yang & Paulson, 2000).
Although edible lms fabricated from hydrocolloids showed
many appropriate characteristics (e.g. good gas, aroma, and lipid
barriers) but their industrial application is limited because of the
inherent brittleness originated from their branched primary
structure and weak intermolecular forces. By denition, plasticisers
are high boiling point low molecular substances that increase the
exibility, workability, or distensibility of matrix biopolymer via
reducing its electrostatic charge, at the same time increasing the
chain exibility, resistance to fracture and dielectric constant
(Vieira, da Silva, dos Santos, & Beppu, 2011). Compatibility and
durability are important factors for selecting a plasticiser to achieve
favourite functional properties in edible lms of biopolymers.
Polyols, mono-, di- and oligosaccharides are the most commonly
used plasticisers, mainly glycerol, sorbitol, and polyethylene glycol
(PEG), which impart greater plasticising effect to edible lms of

S.M.A. Razavi et al. / Food Hydrocolloids 43 (2015) 290e298

hydrocolloids (Mali, Grossmann, Garcia, Martino, & Zaritzky, 2004;

Piermaria et al., 2011; Pongjanyakul & Puttipipatkhachorn, 2007;
da Silva, Krause Bierhalz, & Kieckbusch, 2009; Yang & Paulson,
2000).
Sage (Salvia macrosiphon) is an endemic plant belonging to the
genus Salvia. It has been reported that the gum extracted from sage
seeds, regarded as SSG hereinafter, is a galactomannan (mannose to
galactose ratio of 1.78e1.93:1) containing 28.2e32.2% uronic acids
reecting polyelectrolyte nature with a rigid rod-like conformation
of 4
105 Da average molecular weight, which exhibited a stronger
shear viscosity, psuedoplasticity, and elasticity compared with
other galactomannans based on rheological characterisations
(Razavi, Cui, Guo, & Ding, 2014; Razavi, Taheri, & Quinchia, 2011;
Razavi, Taheri, & Sunchez, 2013). Recent studies indicated that
SSG has great potential to exert stabilising, thickening, and emulsifying properties in food applications, comparable with commercial hydrocolloids (NikNia, Razavi, Koocheki, & NayebZadeh, 2010;
Razavi, Mohammadi Moghaddam, Emadzadeh, & Salehi, 2012;
Razmkhah, Razavi, Behzad, & Mazaheri Tehrani, 2010; Razavi
et al., 2011, 2013).
To the best of our knowledge, there is no published study
regarding characterisation of edible lms made from SSG. Therefore, the aims of the present study were to investigate the effect of
different proportions (20e100% w/w) of plasticisers of different
types, i.e. glycerol, sorbitol, and PEG-400 on physicochemical, mechanical, permeability, surface and thermal properties of biodegradable SSG lms.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
Glycerol, sorbitol, PEG-400, anhydrous calcium chloride, sodium
chloride, and ethylene glycol (EG) were purchased from Merck
(Germany). Potassium sulphate and sodium azide were from
AppliChem (Germany), and calcium nitrate tetrahydrate was from
Panreac (Spain). At all preparations and analyses, deionised water
was used, unless otherwise specied. For those experiments that
required sample conditioning, the relative humidity (RH) inside the
chamber were monitored by AM-4205A hygrometer (Lutron Electronic Enterprise, Taiwan) to ensure the appropriate humidity has
been provided.
The sage seed gum (SSG) was extracted at optimised conditions
according to the method described by Bostan, Razavi, and Farhoosh
(2010), dried by a ventilated oven at 45  C until dryness, then
grinded and kept in air-tight containers prior to use.
2.2. Film preparation
The lm forming solution was prepared by the following
sequential procedure. First of all, the aqueous hydrocolloid solution
(1.5% w/w) was prepared by adding the appropriate amount (20, 40,
60, 80, and 100%) of glycerol, sorbitol, or PEG-400 to water, stirred
and warmed up to 80  C using a hot-plate magnetic stirrer at
150 rpm. After adjusting the temperature, the powdered SSG gum
was added and stirred at 1200 rpm using magnetic stirrer at 80  C
for 10 min. This sequential procedure was used to ensure that SSG
polymers completely react with plasticiser molecules because of
the fast hydration of SSG powder which otherwise did not allow
complete mixing of the two constituents together. To homogenate
the lm forming solution, T25 Ultra-Turrax (Ika, Germany) was
used for one minute at 3200 rpm speed. After homogenisation, the
solution was placed on rotating roller mixer for 24 h at room
temperature to allow complete hydration of hydrocolloid and also
providing enough time to react with plasticiser molecules for any

291

possible congurationally changes. The lm forming solution was

casted on polyethylene casts (4 15 cm), placed at ambient conditions (~53% RH, 23  C) to complete dryness, then the lms were
peeled off from the cast and stored at cool and dry place before
performing the experiments. Each lm preparation was replicated
thrice per sample. It should be mentioned that the same procedure
was performed to prepare control sample without plasticiser
addition.
2.3. Film thickness (d)
The thickness of lms was measured using a digital QLR-Digit
micrometre (Qinghai Measuring & Cutting Tools Group Co.,
China) at ten random points of lms. Measurements were replicated three times with independent lm samples and the mean
values were reported. The d of lms required for water vapour
permeability, density, and mechanical properties experiments was
characterised independently.
2.4. Moisture content
The moisture content (MC, w.b.%) of lms was determined
gravimetrically using a ventilated oven at 105  C until constant
weight was achieved. The test specimens were cut to 2 cm squares,
preconditioned at 75% RH at 23 2  C by a chamber containing
saturated NaCl solution for 48 h, and then shredded immediately
before performing the experiments. Nine replicates were performed for each sample.
2.5. Film density
The lm pieces of 4
4 cm dimensions were conditioned according to the previous section. The thickness was measured at 9
points for each replicate and it was repeated three times, and
averaged. The lm density was calculated as the ratio of lm mass
to its volume (the product of area and thickness).
2.6. Moisture uptake
With minor modications, the procedure described by Angles
and Dufrense (2000) was used to determine moisture uptake by
the samples. Briey, a 2 cm square cut of sample was conditioned at
0% RH using anhydrous calcium chloride for 5 days at 23 2  C,
weighed, conditioned at 25  C using saturated potassium sulphate
(97% RH), weighed consequently until constant weight was achieved. The initial and equilibrium weights of sample (m1 and m2,
respectively) were used to calculate moisture uptake through Eq. (1).

Moisture uptake%

m2  m1
m1



100

(1)

2.7. Water solubility (Sw)

The method of Irissin-Mangata, Bauduin, Boutevin, and Gontard
(2001) was used to measure the Sw of lms. Before measurements,
the samples were conditioned at 75% RH for 48 h at room temperature. In this respect, 2 cm square pieces of samples were
weighed (m1), dried at 75 2  C until constant weight (m2) to
calculate the moisture mass fraction (u) as the ratio of weight loss
(m1m2) to m1 of sample. Then, the same dried pieces of lms were
immersed in 45 ml of 0.02% w/v sodium azide solution in screw
capped containers, maintained at room temperature under mild
agitation for 24 h using roller-mixer, and ltered under vacuum
through MN-640 m lter papers (Macherey-Nagel, Germany). The

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S.M.A. Razavi et al. / Food Hydrocolloids 43 (2015) 290e298

residues were dried and weighed (m3) to calculate the solubilised

fraction by the following equation:

S%

m1 1  u  m3
m1 1  u


(2)

Three replicates were performed and averaged for each sample.

2.8. Film colour

Colour measurement of lms was performed using a calibrated
image processing system as follows. The lms were scanned using
Genius ColorPage HR6X Slim scanner (Taiwan) in RGB colour space
with 24bit colour depth at 600 dpi optical resolution. The images
were then cropped to 900
900 pixels, subjected to noise reduction and converted to CIELAB colour space, and their corresponding
L*, a*, and b* parameters were extracted using ImageJ 1.47n software (National Institute of Health, USA). The measurements were
replicated three times for each sample.

2.9. Water vapour permeability

The subsequent procedure was used to measure water vapour
permeability (WVP) of samples based on the ASTM E96-00 standard
method (ASTM, 2000). Before performing the procedure, samples
were conditioned using calcium nitrate tetrahydrate (RH z 50%) at
23 2  C for 5 days. The d was measured at four positions around
the perimeter of samples. Briey, lm samples were mounted on
the lid of permeation cell (4 1.5 cm, 7 cm height) with ~1.76 cm2
effective area lled with anhydrous calcium chloride as desiccant.
The permeation cell was placed in a chamber containing saturated
potassium sulphate solution (97% RH) at 22  C and its weight was
recorded periodically at appropriate intervals over 72 h. By
applying linear t on the data of weight vs. time at steady state
period, water vapour transmission rate (WVTR) was obtained. The
WVP was calculated by the following relationship.



WVP g Pa1 s1 m1

WVTR
SR1  R2 $d

(3)

where, S is the saturation vapour pressure, R1 and R2 are the relative

humidity of chamber and permeation cell, respectively. The
experiment was replicated thrice.

gL 1 cos q 2

q
q
D
P P
gD
L gS 2 gL gS

(4)

where, g is total surface tension/energy and subscripts L and S

denote liquid droplet and solid surface (lm in this case), respectively. The values of surface tension (mJ/m2) for liquids used in
calculations were as follows (Good & van Oss, 1992): water (gL,
P
D
72.8; gPL , 51.0; gD
L , 21.8), EG (gL, 48.0; gL , 19.0; gL , 29.0), and glycerol
(gL, 63.4; gPL , 26.4; gD
,
37.0).
L
2.11. Mechanical properties
Prior to mechanical test, the d of lm strips (14
1 cm) at 10
points across them was conducted and the strips were conditioned
at 23 2  C and 75% RH (saturated NaCl solution) for 72 h. The
tensile test was performed using QTS-25 texture analyser (CNS
Farnell, UK) according to ASTM D882-02 (ASTM, 2002) standard
method. The initial grip separation was set to 10 cm and a strain
rate of 1.25 cm/min was applied. Using device bundled software,
the tensile strength (TS) and percentage elongation at break (E)
were calculated. Nine independent replicates were characterised
for each sample.
2.12. Thermal properties
The thermal characteristics of control lm along with samples
plasticised by 100% glycerol and sorbitol were determined using
DSC 822e differential scanning calorimeter (Mettler-Toledo,
Switzerland) and TGA-50 thermogravimetric analyser (Shimadzu,
Japan). The glass transition temperature (Tg) was obtained from
thermogram recorded in the range of 60 to 400  C at a rate of
10  C/min in aluminium pans. In case of TGA, 3 mg sample was
transferred to platinum pans and scanned from 25 to 950  C at
10  C/min heating rate to obtain the degradation temperature (Td).
2.13. Statistical analyses
The experimental data were analysed by GLM procedure of SAS
software version 9.1 (SAS Inc., USA). Statistical signicance of
samples through mean comparisons were conducted using Duncan's multiple range test at condence level of 95%. Tukey's test was
also used to compare the statistical signicance of treatments
within studied plasticiser levels through one-way ANOVA
(p < 0.05).

2.10. Film surface properties

3. Results and discussion

The angle between the lm surface, as baseline, and droplet

(water, EG, and glycerol), called contact angle (q), was evaluated on
the basis of goniometer using an image acquisition system consisting of a remote Dino-Lite Plus microscope (AnMo Electronics,
Taiwan) tted horizontally toward an adjustable platform. A drop
(~15 ml) of the liquids was deposited slowly on the lm surface and
photographed after 5 s of droplet deposition. The images were
characterised for q by Image-Pro Plus 6.0 software (Media Cybernetics, USA). The determinations were replicated 9 times per liquid
and thrice per sample. The q was measured on both sides of the
droplet and averaged.
The critical surface energy (gC), which characterises wettability
of lm samples' surface by liquids, was estimated by the Zisman's
method (Zisman, 1964). The overall surface free energy of SSG lms
P
(gS), as the contribution of dispersive (gD
S ) and polar (gS ) components, was determined using Eq. (4) according to the method
described by Owens and Wendt (1969):

The preliminary results revealed that the samples containing

the lowest level of sorbitol and glycerol (20 %w/w) along with
control were difcult to be handled to perform the experiments
because of being fragile, thus their results were not presented
herein. In addition, the lm samples prepared with PEG-400 were
very fragile, thick, and opaque with white rough surface which
made difculties to performing the experiments, therefore, their
results were excluded from the present study. Similar results have
been reports for hydrocolloid lms plasticised with PEG
(Laohakunjit & Noomhorm, 2004; Olivas & Barbosa-Canovas, 2008;
Pongjanyakul & Puttipipatkhachorn, 2007). This observation may
be attributed to the probable incompatibility between the SSG and
PEG-400, which has been referred as blooming and blushing
(Laohakunjit & Noomhorm, 2004; Sakellariou, Rowe, & White,
1986), as a consequence, physical exclusion of plasticiser and
phase separation was occurred (Laohakunjit & Noomhorm, 2004;
Pongjanyakul & Puttipipatkhachorn, 2007). In addition, it has

S.M.A. Razavi et al. / Food Hydrocolloids 43 (2015) 290e298

293

Laohakunjit & Noomhorm, 2004; Mali et al., 2004; Pongjanyakul

& Puttipipatkhachorn, 2007; Rivero et al., 2010; da Silva et al.,
2009; Thakhiew et al., 2010). Conversely, Garcia, Martino, and
Zaritzky (1999) and Piermaria et al. (2009) reported the opposite
inuence of plasticiser on d.
The increased d of SSG lms in presence of plasticiser could be
attributed to the well described function of plasticiser molecules in
disrupting the intermolecular linkages between polymer chains,
thus restructuring the polymer organisation to a more expanded
structure with increased volume, resulting in thicker polymer lms.
3.2. Moisture content

Fig. 1. Illustration of the inuence of different glycerol and sorbitol concentrations on

thickness (d) and moisture content (MC) of sage seed gum (SSG) lms; different letters
on error bars (standard deviation) indicate the statistical signicance.

been stated that the dipole strength of PEG (dielectric constant at

20  C is 12.4) is not enough to disrupt the intermolecular interactions of polymer to be positioned effectively between the
polymer chains (Yang & Paulson, 2000).
All other samples, except those mentioned above, were transparent and exible with slight yellowish colour and very smooth
surface. Surprisingly, there was no evidence of incompatibility, in
the form of exudation and/or stickiness, in case of glycerol and
sorbitol plasticised samples even at 100% w/w level.
It should be noted that it was tried to compare the results of this
work with those reported for hydrocolloid lms that match the
plasticiser type and concentration(s) investigated herein, therefore,
the plasticiser type and proportions used by others are not included
or discussed.
3.1. Thickness
According to Fig. 1, the thickness (d) of SSG lm samples
signicantly (p < 0.05) increased over the range of 89e116 micron
and 100 to 122 micron as a response to increasing glycerol and
sorbitol concentration from 40 to 100 %w/w, respectively. The type
of plasticiser signicantly inuenced the d of lms such that samples containing sorbitol were thicker than glycerol plasticised lms
at constant proportions (Fig. 1). This is consistent with other studies
which reported an increase in d in relation to glycerol and/or sorbitol addition (Ahmadi et al., 2012; Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan, &
Oromiehie, 2011; Imran et al., 2010; Jouki et al., 2013;

The variation in MC of SSG lms is presented in Fig. 1 as a

function of glycerol and sorbitol concentration. It can be seen that
increasing glycerol proportion from 40 to 100 %w/w caused a
prominent increase, from 26.63 to 48.89%, in MC of samples
(p < 0.05), while no signicant inuence exerted by sorbitol and MC
remained almost constant (~14%) at evaluated concentrations.
Obviously, there was a signicant difference between the MC of
glycerol and sorbitol plasticised samples (p < 0.05). Similar results
have been reported regarding the inuence of plasticiser on MC of
hydrocolloid edible lms (Ahmadi et al., 2012; Ghasemlou,
Khodaiyan, & Oromiehie, 2011; Jouki et al., 2013; Piermaria et al.,
2009, 2011; Seyedi et al., 2014; da Silva et al., 2009; Thakhiew
et al., 2010). The hygroscopic nature of glycerol may be the
reason for increased water retention at the end of lm drying
(Piermaria et al., 2009; da Silva et al., 2009; Talja, Helen, Roos, &
Jouppila, 2007).
3.3. Density
The density of SSG lm samples was slightly decreased
(p > 0.05) by raising the proportion of plasticisers (Table 1) and no
signicant difference was observed between density of samples
containing glycerol and sorbitol. The decrease in density could be
attributed to the increased thickness (and volume) in relation to
elevated plasticiser content (refer to Section 3.1). This is in agreement with those reported by Jouki et al. (2013) and Seyedi et al.
(2014).
3.4. Moisture uptake
The results of moisture uptake determinations for SSG lm
samples are illustrated in Fig. 2. It can be clearly seen that the
moisture uptake of lms plasticised by glycerol, varied from 110 to
about 140%, are considerably higher (p < 0.05) compared to those
containing sorbitol (69e92%). This may be probably explained by

Table 1
The dependence of density, colour parameters, and water vapour permeability (WVP) of SSG lms to plasticisers.
Plasticiser (%)

Density (g/cm3)

L*
Glycerol
40
60
80
100
Sorbitol
40
60
80
100

WVP (
1011 g/Pa.m.s)

Colour parameters
a*

b*

1.40
1.39
1.35
1.32

0.06
0.04
0.03
0.05

73.09
74.04
75.57
75.22

1.45
0.84
2.23
1.18

0.00
0.02
0.03
0.02

0.01
0.02
0.00
0.01

1.38
1.28
1.17
1.40

0.05
0.78
0.48
0.67

4.23
4.80
5.44
5.71

0.57a
0.32a
0.25a
1.00a

1.41
1.38
1.35
1.27

0.11
0.01
0.04
0.05

73.23
73.95
74.08
73.79

2.37
1.72
1.08
0.93

0.05
0.07
0.05
0.05

0.02
0.02
0.00
0.01

1.36
1.48
1.58
1.39

0.22
0.60
0.01
0.68

2.98
3.68
3.73
4.09

0.08b
0.17ab
0.16ab
0.77a

The values are means standard deviation.

Different letters in the same column indicate signicant differences (p < 0.05).

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S.M.A. Razavi et al. / Food Hydrocolloids 43 (2015) 290e298

Fig. 2. The dependence of moisture uptake and solubility in water (Sw) of SSG lms as
a function of plasticiser concentration (error bars represent standard deviation and
different letters on error bars indicate the statistical signicance).

the assumption that the more expanded the polymer network inside lms by restructuring the interactions to a disordered state,
the higher the opportunity to bind water, observed as a signicant
rise in moisture uptake.
3.5. Solubility in water
Generally, it is believed that Sw increases by adding and raising
concentration of plasticiser in lm matrix due to the hydrophilic
nature of both the base material and polyol plasticisers used in
edible hydrocolloid lms (Ahmadi et al., 2012; Ghasemlou,
Khodaiyan, & Oromiehie, 2011; Jouki et al., 2013; Laohakunjit &
Noomhorm, 2004; Piermaria et al., 2009; da Silva et al., 2009).
The Sw of SSG lms almost remained constant (~82%) by
increasing proportion of glycerol in lm formulation and it was
barely affected (p > 0.05). Although scant variations in Sw observed
for sorbitol plasticised samples (65e84%), but still the inuence of
sorbitol concentration was insignicant (Fig. 2). Both samples, i.e.
glycerol and sorbitol plasticised, can be considered as highly
soluble.
The values of Sw determined for SSG lms are close to solubility
of cassava starch lms (Phan et al., 2005), but higher than the Sw of
lms from psyllium gum (Ahmadi et al., 2012), keran (Ghasemlou,
Khodaiyan, & Oromiehie, 2011), cress seed gum (Jouki et al., 2013),
rice starch (Laohakunjit & Noomhorm, 2004), and agar, normal and
waxy rice starch (Phan et al., 2005).
The higher afnity of SSG lms in relation to the presence of
plasticisers could be probably attributed to the hygroscopic nature
of plasticisers along with the weakened swollen structure of the
lm network induced by structure disordering inuence of plasticiser which resulted in less stability in aqueous medium.
3.6. Colour
The results of SSG lm colour parameters are tabulated in
Table 1. The high lightness, L*, values observed in presence of both
glycerol and sorbitol at all investigated concentrations indicates the
high transparency of samples, which is a desirable characteristic in
edible lm packaging and coatings. The L* of SSG lms was
observed to be independent of plasticiser concentration (p > 0.05).
This is consistent with the results of Thakhiew et al. (2010) and
Seyedi et al. (2014), although it is generally believed that plasticisers increase the L* value of hydrocolloid lms (Ahmadi et al.,

2012; Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan, Oromiehie, et al., 2011; Jouki et al.,

2013). The values of L* observed in present study are close to
psyllium gum (Ahmadi et al., 2012), cress seed gum (Jouki et al.,
2013) and LPSG (Seyedi et al., 2014) lms, while lower than the
values reported for Opuntia cus mucilage (Espino-Diaz et al., 2010),
keran (Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan, Oromiehie, et al., 2011), and chitosan (Thakhiew et al., 2010) lms.
The value of a* parameter, indicative of red-green chromaticity,
was not inuenced by the plasticiser concentration signicantly
(p > 0.05). Generally, glycerol plasticised samples were of lower a*
value compared with sorbitol plasticised ones (Table 1). This is
consistent with the result reported by Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan,
Oromiehie, et al. (2011), Jouki et al. (2013), and Thakhiew et al.
(2010). The values of a* observed at the present study are slightly
higher than the lms of psyllium (Ahmadi et al., 2012), keran
(Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan, Oromiehie, et al., 2011), cress seed gum
(Jouki et al., 2013), LPSG (Seyedi et al., 2014) and chitosan
(Thakhiew et al., 2010).
Similar to other colour indicatives, the yellow-blue chromaticity
parameter (b*) of SSG lms was independent of the proportion of
glycerol and sorbitol and no signicant difference observed between plasticisers (p > 0.05). Conversely, the b* of lms made from
psyllium hydrocolloid (Ahmadi et al., 2012), cress seed gum (Jouki
et al., 2013) and LPSG (Seyedi et al., 2014) has been reported to
increase by increasing glycerol concentration, while, Ghasemlou,
Khodaiyan, Oromiehie, et al. (2011) indicated that it will decrease
for keran lms. The values of b* observed at the present study are
lower than the lms of psyllium hydrocolloid (Ahmadi et al., 2012),
keran (Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan, Oromiehie, et al., 2011), cress seed
gum (Jouki et al., 2013), and chitosan (Thakhiew et al., 2010), but
higher than the lm of LPSG (Seyedi et al., 2014).
Although the colour parameters of SSG lms, either plasticised
by glycerol or sorbitol, were too far from the desired characteristics
of synthetic packaging materials, but they could be regarded as
acceptable and comparable with other hydrocolloid lms. Based on
the results of colour parameters of SSG lms which showed the
independency to plasticiser concentration and type, it could be
inferred that these colour discrepancies are probably associated
with the colour coming from base material.
3.7. Water vapour permeability
The results of WVP indicated that SSG lms are good barriers to
the water vapour (WVP less than ~6
1011 g/Pa.m.s), although a
slight increase was observed by increasing plasticiser proportion.
The only signicant difference in WVP was observed between lms
plasticised by 40% and 100 %w/w sorbitol (Table 1). Similar to the
results of the present work, it has been reported that WVP of hydrocolloid lms increases by incorporation of plasticisers (Ahmadi
et al., 2012; Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan, & Oromiehie, 2011;
Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan, Oromiehie, et al., 2011; Imran et al., 2010;
Mali et al., 2004; Muller, Yamashita, & Laurindo, 2008; Piermaria
et al., 2009; Seyedi et al., 2014; Yang & Paulson, 2000).
The WVP values of samples containing glycerol are slightly higher
than the values obtained for sorbitol plasticised lms (Table 1). This
is in accordance with the results reported by Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan,
and Oromiehie (2011), Parris, Cofn, Joubran, and Pessen (1995),
Talja et al. (2007), and Zhang and Whistler (2004).
The WVP for SSG lms are close to the values reported for lms
of keran (Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan, Oromiehie, et al., 2011); lower
than the lms developed by psyllium gum (Ahmadi et al., 2012),
different types of starch (Garcia et al., 1999), keran (Ghasemlou,
Khodaiyan, & Oromiehie, 2011; Piermaria et al., 2009), cress seed
gum (Jouki et al., 2013), yam starch (Mali et al., 2004), alginate
(Olivas & Barbosa-Canovas, 2008), cellophane, agar, cassava starch,

S.M.A. Razavi et al. / Food Hydrocolloids 43 (2015) 290e298

normal and waxy rice starch (Phan et al., 2005), gelatin (Rivero
et al., 2010), LPSG (Seyedi et al., 2014) and arabinoxylan (Zhang &
Whistler, 2004); while higher than LDPE (Phan et al., 2005) and
gellan (Yang & Paulson, 2000) lms. This clearly indicates that SSG
lms are good barriers against water vapour.
3.8. Contact angle and surface free energy
The surface properties of SSG lms was characterised through
contact angle measurements against three types of liquids, i.e.
water, ethylene glycol (EG), and glycerol. The results of contact
angle measurements for lm samples plasticised by different concentrations of glycerol and sorbitol are presented in Table 2. It can
be seen that the water contact angle increases from 32 to 56 and
42 to 103 in glycerol and sorbitol plasticised lms, respectively. It
could be inferred that although the surface hydrophobicity of
glycerol plasticised samples increase by elevating plasticiser concentration, still it has a hydrophilic surface which could be wetted
by water. In contrast, the lms plasticised by sorbitol showed an
abrupt increase in hydrophobicity in which the samples containing
80% w/w or more are completely hydrophobic indicated by contact
angles greater than 90 . Contrary to the results of the present work,
it has been reported that water contact angle of hydrocolloid lms
decreases by plasticisers (Ahmadi et al., 2012; Ghasemlou,
Khodaiyan, Oromiehie, et al., 2011; Jouki et al., 2013; Seyedi et al.,
2014; Suyatma, Tighzert, & Copinet, 2005). The contact angle of
SSG lms plasticised by glycerol are lower than the lms prepared
by psyllium gum (Ahmadi et al., 2012), keran (Ghasemlou,
Khodaiyan, Oromiehie, et al., 2011), cress seed gum (Jouki et al.,
2013) and LPSG (Seyedi et al., 2014).
In order to further characterise the surface properties of SSG
lms, estimation of critical surface energy, the maximum surface
tension a liquid may have to ensure complete wetting of a given
material, and polar and dispersive energy components of lm
surface were performed. The lower the critical surface energy (gC),
the lower the ability of surface to be wetted by most liquids, i.e. the
lower hydrophilicity. As shown in Table 2, gC was diminished in
case of both glycerol and sorbitol plasticised samples by an increase
in concentration, indicating an increase in surface hydrophobicity.
It is also conrmed by the values of surface free energy (gS), in
which its decreasing trend indicate the more hydrophobic surface
exhibited by SSG lms in relation to a rise in the proportion of
plasticisers. By increasing the concentration of plasticisers, the
polar contribution to surface energy (gPS ) of SSG lms declined
while at the same time, the dispersive contribution (gD
S ) increased.
At all concentrations investigated, the surface hydrophobicity was

295

higher for sorbitol plasticised compared with samples containing

glycerol, indicated by lower gC, gS, gPS and higher gD
S (Table 2).
Thermodynamically, surface energy is interpreted as the work
required extending a surface. Thus, in a physical sense, the results
suggest the fact that an increase in the surface area cannot be
accomplished without doing more work (adhesion) against the
increased elastic forces and plastic resistance of the lm surface
induced by plasticisers. In a chemical sense, the further occupancy
of hydrophilic groups of SSG chains (mainly hydroxyl and carboxyl
groups) by the increased presence of hydroxyl groups of plasticiser
through hydrogen bonding leads to a situation that there is less free
hydrophilic groups to be occupied. This will probably explains the
decrease in gPS observed for both plasticised samples. On the other
hand, probably the shielding of nonpolar residues of SSG molecules
(e.g. methoxyl and acetyl groups; for more information refer to
Razavi et al., 2014) has been reduced by polymer-plasticiser hydrophilic interactions which repel them towards the surface,
making the surface of lms rich in hydrophobic residues. This could
be conrmed by the increasedgD
S . It should be noted that the SSG
itself has the ability to reduce the surface tension effectively (Razavi
et al., 2014).
3.9. Mechanical properties
The results of mechanical properties of SSG lms in presence of
different concentrations of glycerol and sorbitol are illustrated in
Fig. 3. As expected, the tensile strength (TS) of samples decreased
prominently from 16.56 to 4.41 MPa by elevating proportion of
glycerol from 40 to 100% w/w (p < 0.05). In case of samples containing sorbitol, TS diminished from 26.22 to 18.61 MPa but no
signicant difference in TS values was observed except for samples
with the highest sorbitol concentration and those containing 40
and 60% w/w. In addition, the results revealed that glycerol efciency in plasticising SSG lms was signicantly greater than sorbitol in terms of TS reduction (p < 0.05). The values of SSG lms' TS
were close to the values reported for lms of guar (Mikkonen et al.,
2007), LDPE (Phan et al., 2005); lower than hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (Imran et al., 2010), LBG (Mikkonen et al., 2007), alginate
(Olivas & Barbosa-Canovas, 2008), cellophane (Phan et al., 2005),
chitosan (Thakhiew et al., 2010), and gellan (Yang & Paulson, 2000)
lms, but higher than the lms of psyllium gum (Ahmadi et al.,
2012), cassava starch (Bergo et al., 2008), rice starch (Dias et al.,
2010; Laohakunjit & Noomhorm, 2004), O. cus mucilage
(Espino-Diaz et al., 2010), keran (Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan, &

Table 2
Surface properties of SSG edible lms as affected by different proportions of glycerol
and sorbitol.
Plasticiser (%)

Glycerol
40
60
80
100
Sorbitol
40
60
80
100

Contact angle ( )

Surface free energy (mJ/m2)

gC

gS

gPS

gD
S

32.26
36.91
42.34
55.98

9.18b
6.80b
5.16b
15.18a

39.86
37.67
37.91
30.74

15.07
14.68
14.17
12.64

10.39
9.67
8.81
6.95

4.68
5.01
5.36
5.68

41.56
72.26
90.96
103.10

5.14c
27.40b
30.55ab
15.86a

32.33
24.67
23.32
22.36

14.30
10.50
7.76
7.03

9.50
4.82
1.49
0.53

4.80
5.68
6.27
6.50

Different letters in the same column indicate signicant differences (p < 0.05).
Abbreviations: gC critical surface tension, gS overall surface free energy, and
superscripts P and D denote polar and dispersive components, respectively.

Fig. 3. Tensile strength (TS) and percentage elongation (E) of SSG lms with different
concentrations of glycerol and sorbitol; standard deviations are indicated by error bars,
different letters on error bars represent statistical signicances.

296

S.M.A. Razavi et al. / Food Hydrocolloids 43 (2015) 290e298

Oromiehie, 2011; Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan, Oromiehie, et al., 2011;

Piermaria et al., 2009), cress seed gum (Jouki et al., 2013), gelatin
(Rivero et al., 2010) and LPSG (Seyedi et al., 2014).
As shown in Fig. 3, the percentage elongation (E) was increased
considerably by an increase in plasticiser content (p < 0.05). The
values of E in the present study are close to the values reported for
O. cus mucilage (Espino-Diaz et al., 2010) lms and higher than the
lms of alginate (Olivas & Barbosa-Canovas, 2008) and LPSG
(Seyedi et al., 2014), while they are lower than lms produced from
psyllium gum (Ahmadi et al., 2012), cassava starch (Bergo et al.,
2008), rice starch (Dias et al., 2010; Laohakunjit & Noomhorm,
2004), keran (Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan, & Oromiehie, 2011;
Piermaria et al., 2009), HPMC (Imran et al., 2010), cress seed gum
(Jouki et al., 2013), LBG and guar (Mikkonen et al., 2007), gelatin
(Rivero et al., 2010), chitosan, LDPE, PVC (Thakhiew et al., 2010), and
gellan (Yang & Paulson, 2000).
Similar to the results of TS, glycerol exerted a higher efciency
(p < 0.05) in plasticising SSG lms, indicated by prominent increase
in E, compared with sorbitol. The same behaviour has been reported by Dias et al. (2010), Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan, and Oromiehie
(2011), Mikkonen et al. (2007), Olivas and Barbosa-Canovas (2008),
Piermaria et al. (2011), and Talja et al. (2007).
By considering the results of TS and E in present study, it could
be inferred that variations in plasticiser concentration exert an
appreciable positive inuence on mechanical properties of SSG
lms. In general, it has been reported that incorporating plasticiser
reduces the TS and increases the E in hydrocolloid lms (Dias et al.,
2010; Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan, & Oromiehie, 2011; Ghasemlou,
Khodaiyan, Oromiehie, et al., 2011; Imran et al., 2010; Jouki et al.,
2013; Laohakunjit & Noomhorm, 2004; Mikkonen et al., 2007;
Rivero et al., 2010; Seyedi et al., 2014; Thakhiew et al., 2010; Yang
& Paulson, 2000).
The inuence of plasticisers on mechanical properties of SSG
may be explained as follows. The inclusion of plasticiser molecules
in polymer matrix and space occupancy through hydrogen bonding
probably disrupts the structure of polymer and turns it into a
disordered exible structure which could be viewed as a kind of
restructuring in polymer matrix with increased chain mobility, thus
reducing the resistance to applied stress and increasing lm
stretchability.
3.10. Thermal properties
In order to characterise the nature of structural differences between SSG lms as a function of plasticiser type, the DSC measurement was performed on samples with (100% w/w) and without
(control) plasticiser. The control sample showed two exothermic
peaks with Tg at about 59.7 and 277.7  C, which the later may be
related to the thermal decomposition of SSG. As seen in Table 3, the
presence of glycerol shifted the Tg of SSG lm to 52.2 & 179.1  C,

while sorbitol reduced it to 47.2 & 245.3  C, respectively. In glycerol

plasticised sample, two additional peaks with Tg of about 286.4 and
340.8  C were appeared. Similarly, the newly appeared peaks due to
the plasticiser addition have been reported by Rivero et al. (2010)
for gelatin lms. The reduction in Tg of hydrocolloid lms by addition of plasticisers has been reported by others (Bergo et al., 2008;
Ghasemlou, Khodaiyan, Oromiehie, et al., 2011; Pongjanyakul &
Puttipipatkhachorn, 2007; Rivero et al., 2010; Seyedi et al., 2014;
Suyatma et al., 2005; Talja et al., 2007; Thakhiew et al., 2010;
Yang & Paulson, 2000).
The Tg values observed for plasticised SSG lms are higher than
the reported values for the lms of cassava starch (58.8 & 42.1  C)
by Bergo et al. (2008), keran (18.9 to 21.8  C) by Ghasemlou,
Khodaiyan, Oromiehie, et al. (2011), gelatin (22  C) by Rivero
et al. (2010), potato starch (Talja et al., 2007), and gellan
(<84  C) by Yang and Paulson (2000), but lower than chitosan lm
(163-152  C) reported by Thakhiew et al. (2010).
The reduction in Tg of edible lms has been explained based on
the free volume theory of plasticisation, in which plasticiser induces mobile regions in polymer network with greater interchain
distances, promoting water clustering and segmental mobility of
polymer chains resulting in reduced thermal phase transition
temperature (Cerqueira, Souza, Teixeira, & Vicente, 2012; Seyedi
et al., 2014; Suyatma et al., 2005; Yang & Paulson, 2000). Besides,
the plasticisation effect of increased water content in the structure
of lms due to the presence of plasticisers has been considered as
another criterion to the Tg depression (Cerqueira et al., 2012; Rivero
et al., 2010).
Additionally, TGA measurement was used to characterise the
decomposition and thermal stability of SSG lms in presence/
absence of plasticiser. The changes in weight of samples without
plasticiser and containing 100% glycerol or sorbitol as a function of
temperature are shown in Fig. 4.
The weight loss of control sample started very slowly from the
beginning of heating to a maximum of ~10% which could be
probably associated with the loss of free water in SSG lm
(Cerqueira et al., 2011, 2012; Giancone et al., 2011; Leceta, Guerrero,
Ibarburu, Duenas, & de la Caba, 2013; Martins et al., 2012; Mu, Guo,
Li, Lin, & Li, 2012). By further heating, control sample showed an
abrupt degradation (~75%) with two peaks at 262.9 and 426.5  C,
probably related to a complex process including degradation of the
saccharide rings and disintegration of macromolecular chains of
SSG (Cerqueira et al., 2011, 2012; Giancone et al., 2011; Martins
et al., 2012; Mu et al., 2012; Rotta, Minatti, & Barreto, 2011;
Zohuriaan & Shokrolahi, 2004). The SSG lm containing glycerol
exhibited a multiple-step decomposition curve, similar to the DSC

Table 3
Thermal properties of SSG lms without plasticiser (control) and containing 100%
(w/w) plasticisers based on DSC and TGA characterisations.
Control
T1*
T2
T3
T4

DSC
TGA
DSC
TGA
DSC
TGA
DSC
TGA

59.70
262.86
277.68
426.51
e
e
e
e

Glycerol

2.13
3.22
0.94
5.92

52.24
53.53
179.10
178.96
286.43
280.41
340.82
454.24

Sorbitol
0.01
3.46
7.13
3.14
2.18
2.72
2.58
1.63

47.19
76.86
245.31
261.68
e
440.99
e
e

1.78
2.74
7.05
2.68

8.38

The values are mean of three determinations standard deviation.

*The numbers show the phase transition or degradation stage in thermogram.

Fig. 4. Comparative thermograms of non-plasticised SSG lms and plasticised with

100% w/w glycerol and sorbitol.

S.M.A. Razavi et al. / Food Hydrocolloids 43 (2015) 290e298

curve, with an initial small peak with Td of 53.5  C revealing the free
water loss; followed by a major peak at 179.0  C most likely associated with the loss of glycerol compounds and chemisorbed
structurally bound water (Cerqueira et al., 2012; Martins et al.,
2012; Mu et al., 2012); ending with two peaks at 280.4 and
454.2  C related to SSG macromolecular chain scission. Similarly,
there was a slight weight loss in sorbitol plasticised SSG lm
starting from 76.9  C followed by two peaks with Td of 261.7 and
441.0  C with about 70% decomposition.
By considering the Td values of SSG lms with and without
plasticiser, it could be concluded that the presence of plasticiser
shifted the degradation temperatures more or less toward higher
values, showing an increase in heat stability which is consistent
with the results reported by Cerqueira et al. (2012) and Mu et al.
(2012).
4. Conclusions
The inuence of incorporating different concentrations of glycerol and sorbitol as plasticiser in formulation of edible lms fabricated from SSG was investigated through physicochemical,
mechanical, barrier, and surface properties. Based on the visual and
preliminary characterisations, it was observed that PEG is not an
appropriate plasticiser for SSG lms, therefore, its application could
not be recommended. The results indicated that glycerol has a great
efciency in plasticising SSG lms in terms of increased thickness,
moisture content, moisture uptake, and percentage of elongation
with declining the tensile strength and surface hydrophilicity.
Surprisingly, the values of WVP were low enough to be regarded as
less permeable in comparison with other hydrocolloid lms. In
addition, acceptable mechanical properties and high heat stability
were achieved by the lms plasticised by glycerol. In sorbitol
plasticised lms, it was observed that raising the concentration
leads to highly soluble low moisture content lms with low afnity
to uptake moisture and high surface hydrophobicity. The mechanical characteristics of lms containing sorbitol were not
notable. Based on the characterised properties of lms it was
revealed that glycerol has a greater plasticisation efciency
compared with sorbitol, although the lms containing sorbitol are
still of reasonable and acceptable characteristics. Overall, the results of the present study indicated that SSG could be regarded as
an appropriate source of edible lms for common food applications.
It should be noted that the results of ongoing study which deals
with the incorporation of different fatty acids in SSG edible lms
will be presented in forthcoming paper.
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