Gruner, A.A.GrunerBerghammer, A.A.Berghammer2022-03-092022-03-092000https://publica.fraunhofer.de/handle/publica/335587For measuring the migration from polymers a rapid solvent extraction method based on the principle of swelling the polymeric matrix has been developed. The method uses a solvent (ethanol or isooctane) of the same polarity as the polymer that is to be extracted. The applicability of this "rapid solvent extraction method" which has already been proven suitable for overall migration from polyolefins - using isooctane as a swelling agent in this case - was further evaluated for polyamide plastics. Migration kinetics with isooctane and ethanol were measured. Kinetic results showed that ethanol is swelling polyamide and leads to maximum total migration values after a few hours at 40°C. Kinetics with isooctane showed that even after 10 days at 40°C, migration values far below the ethanol values. This indicates that the determination of the migrant concentration in the polyamide polymer using rapid ethanol-extraction can be used as an alternative quick approach for otherwise time-consuming (specific) migration testing. The obtained results show that the "rapid solvent extraction method" is also working with the polyamide polymer. Examples will be given for overall migration values and also for migration of specific compounds from polyamide materials. The data also support the application of the so called "QM/SML-Concept" which reduces the amount of actual testing which is necessary to ensure the conformity of polymeric food packaging materials with specific migration limits (SML) laid down by legislation. The principle of this concept is to measure the quantity of a specific migrant in the polymer (QM) by an appropriate extraction method and to calculate its specific migration value using a scientifically acknowledged mathematical model.en664688conference paper