Fiber formation and physical properties of chitosan fiber crosslinked by epichlorohydrin in a wet spinning system: The effect of the concentration of the crosslinking agent epichlorohydrin

Abstract

Abstract The wet spinning of chitosan fibers was studied with 2% acetic acid as the solvent, 10% aqueous sodium hydroxide as the nonsolvent, and a 4% chitosan solution as the polymer. This article describes the crosslinking of the chitosan fibers. Epichlorohydrin (ECH) was selected as a convenient base‐catalyzed crosslinking agent. The coagulation and crosslinking of the chitosan fibers occurred simultaneously in the coagulation bath. In this study, we investigated the effect of the concentration of the crosslinking agent, ECH, in the spinning dope on the structural, thermal, morphological, and mechanical properties (e.g., the tenacity, elongation, and work of rupture) of chitosan fibers. The tenacity of the chitosan fibers, especially the wet tenacity, was improved by crosslinking. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 92: 2054–2062, 2004