Structural changes and their effect on mechanical properties of silk fibroin/chitosan blends

✍ Scribed by Sung Jin Park; Kuen Yong Lee; Wan Shik Ha; Soo Young Park

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 139 KB
• Volume: 74
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-8995
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4628(19991209)74:11<2571::aid-app2>3.0.co;2-a

✦ Synopsis

Silk fibroin/chitosan blend films were prepared by the solvent casting method. Miscibility between silk fibroin and chitosan was examined by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis. Structural changes of silk fibroin by the addition of chitosan were investigated by IR spectroscopy. The conformational transition of silk fibroin from random coil form to ␤-sheet structure induced by blending with chitosan resulted in the increase of crystallinity and density of the blend films. The blend film containing 30 wt % chitosan exhibited a maximum increase in crystallinity and density. It was found that the tensile strength and initial tensile modulus of blend films were greatly enhanced with increasing the chitosan content and showed a maximum value at the composition of 30 wt % chitosan.