Nanocomposite polymer container

摘要

A transparent multilayer structure is disclosed such as a flexible self-supporting container for a flowable food product such as fruit juice. The transparent multilayer structure possesses superior barrier properties to oxygen, water vapor and aromatic gases. The multilayer structure may include an exterior layer having a metal oxide deposition laminated to an interior layer through use of an adhesive. In one embodiment, the metal oxide is SiOx where x has a value between 1.5 and 2.2 thereby allowing for a transparent multilayer structure. The metal oxide may be deposited on the exterior layer through a number of various methods. An exemplary method is plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The exterior layer may be composed of a polymer material integrated with a clay mineral between 0.1% and 10% weight of the polymer material. The polymer material may be selected from the group consisting of polyamide, polyethylene terephthalate, copolymers of polyethylene terephthalate and mixtures thereof.