Dimer acid polyamide/montmorillonite bio-based film for the challenge of air cushion

The increasing use of air cushions in transport packaging brings increased environmental damage due to discarded packaging. A possible solution is to replace petroleum-based polymers with dimer acid polyamide. This work studies qualities of dimer acid polyamide films with montmorillonite (MMT) addition. The layer structure of MMT and the heterogeneous nucleation effect augment the crystal content of the γ-crystal phase. The oxygen permeability and thermal stability of the film improve as the MMT content is increased, while optical properties decline. The mechanical properties of the film are also affected. Finite element analysis was used to assess the timeliness of air cushions made from dimer acid polyamide/MMT film. The results show that the dimer acid polyamide/MMT film can fully meet the requirements of air cushions for short-term transportation.