Monosodium phosphate (MP), sodium citrate (SC), sodium lactate (SL) and magnesium citrate (MC) can be blended with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) to make photophobic (white) films at lower drying temperatures. Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), wide angle X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), whiteness determination, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and texture analysis were adopted to study the variation of microstructures and properties. These four kinds of HPMC/salt films showed decreased crystallinity and increased compactness and smoothness of the self-similar structures in larger scale ranges. HPMC/MP, HPMC/SC and HPMC/SL film showed coarser and porous morphologies, lower mechanical parameters and higher whiteness than pure HPMC film. HPMC/MC film showed smoother morphologies, higher tensile strength, elongation and whiteness than pure HPMC film. Porous structures and more compact self-similar structures might contribute to the photophobic property of these films, and relatively smooth morphology might dominate the increasing mechanical parameters of HPMC/MC film.
