Photothermal techniques applied to the study of thermal properties in biodegradable films

. The objective of the present work was to determine the thermal diffusivity and effusivity of biodegradable films by using photothermal techniques. The thermal diffusivity was studied by using the open photoacoustic cell technique. On the other hand the thermal effusivity was obtained by the photopyroelectric technique in a front detection configuration. The films were elaborated from mixtures of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and corn starch. The results showed that at high moisture values, the thermal diffusivity increased as the starch concentration was higher in the film. However at low moisture conditions (