Abstract:A noval packaging material was prepared by adding tea polyphenol into chitosan/zein matrix and the solution casting method. The effect of tea polyphenol on the static and dynamic rheological properties, particle size and gel strength of blend solutions was investigated. And the mechanical and barrier properties of blend films were analyzed. Moreover, morphology, crystallography and thermomechanical analysis were performed. The results showed that the interaction of tea polyphenol and polymer matrix facilitated the formation of highly entangled network structure, which was benificial to the development of uniform blend films. It was apparent that the properties of films were improved by loading moderate tea polyphenol, and the tensile strength reached the highest value (10.966 Mpa) when the load of tea polyphenol was 1%. The results of SEM and XRD revealed the preferable miscibility among tea polyphenol, chitosan and zein on account of strong interaction. Furthermore, FT-IR showed that hydrogen bond interaction was observed between tea polyphenol and chitosan, zein. And the thermomechanical analysis demonstrated that blend films presented better heat stability when the mass fraction of tea polyphenol was 0.5% and 2% respectively.