Recent commercial developments have created a need for alternative materials and methods for imparting oil/grease resistance to paper and/or paperboard used in packaging. The performance of a novel grease resistant functional coating comprised of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), sodium tetraborate pentahydrate (borate) and acetonedicarboxylic acid (ACDA) and the application of said coating by means of flexographic press is presented herein. Application criteria is developed, testing procedures described, and performance assessment of the developed coating materials are made. SEM images along with contact angle data suggest that coating performance is probably attributable to decreased mean pore size in conjunction with a slightly increased surface contact angle facilitated by crosslinking of PVA molecules by both borate ions and ACDA.

Syftet med denna studie var att utveckla en biokomposit med både fett-och vattenbarriär. Material med dessa egenskaper innehåller idag ofta PFAS-molekyler (per- och polyfluorerade alkylsubstanser). Det är av stor betydelse att byta ut dessa mot ett biobaserat alternativ då de är giftiga och ackumuleras i naturen. Biokompositen utvecklades genom att kombinera icke-trä pappersmassa (75%) och trä pappersmassa (25%) som matris. Därefter tillsattes olika biobaserade additiv i våtände för att påverka materialets egenskaper. Proverna testades på deras dragstyrka, vattenavvisning och fettavvisning. Den stora utmaningen var att lyckas med fettavisningen. 1% Polysackarid 1 tillsammans med 0.5% sizing komponent var det provet som gav bäst resultat. För att utvärdera denna metod gjordes en jämförelse med ytbehandling. Det gjordes genom att stryka på några av de tidigare använda additiven på ytan av matrisen. Ytbehandlingen visade sig ha en större påverkan på fettavvisningen men med liknande eller sämre påverkan på vattenavvisningen. Nackdelen med denna metod är att den kräver ett flertal extra steg i produktionen. / The aim of this thesis work was to develop a pulp-based biocomposite material with good water and grease barrier properties. It is important to achieve such properties to able to replace PFAS (poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances) molecules due to their toxicity and accumulation. Different types of pulp were evaluated as the matrix and the optimal matrix was based on non-wood pulp (75%) with wood pulp 1 (25%).  This was also combined with several different additives in the wet-end. The samples were tested for their tensile strength, water resistance and grease resistance. The biggest challenge was to achieve adequate grease resistance. 1% Polysaccharide 1 together with 0.5% sizing agent was one of the better samples. It was clear the additives affected each other when used in combination with each other which indicates that wet end chemistry is complex. For a comparison, some additives were also tested as coatings. This technique resulted in better grease resistance but requires several extra steps in the production.