Effect of glycerol on structure–property relations in chitosan/poly(ethylene oxide) blended films investigated using wide-angle X-ray diffraction

Rampura, S. Jagadish and Baldev, Raj and Parameswara, Puttanna and Somashekar, R. (2010) Effect of glycerol on structure–property relations in chitosan/poly(ethylene oxide) blended films investigated using wide-angle X-ray diffraction. Polymer International, 59. pp. 931-936.

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Abstract

Polymer blending is an effective method for providing desirable polymeric materials with properties useful for the packaging industry. In the study reported, blends of chitosan/poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) were prepared in various weight ratios with and without glycerol. Line profile analysis of the X-ray diffraction patterns of these blended films was carried out. Microstructural parameters such as crystallite size and lattice strain were determined using paracrystalline modelling of X-ray data. These values were correlated with physico-mechanical and optical properties of the chitosan/PEO blends with and without glycerol to understand the holistic behaviour of the blends. Two prominent Bragg reflections at 2θ ≈ 19◦ and 23◦ were observed in the wide-angle X-ray diffraction patterns of the glycerol-based chitosan/PEO blended films of various ratios. Interruption of PEO crystallization with chitosan results in an amorphous polymer network and hence a reduction in crystallite size by almost 97.7%. For glycerol-based blends, the crystallite size/area decreases to 94.4% of the virgin crystallite size. The X-ray profile analysis supports the results for the physico-mechanical properties of the blends. The results show that the addition of 20 wt% of glycerol results in an increase of the elongation at break by more than 150%, meaning that these chitosan/PEO films could be applied in flexible packaging.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	chitosan; poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO); glycerol; crystallite area; paracrystalline; X-ray diffraction
Subjects:	500 Natural Sciences and Mathematics > 04 Chemistry and Allied Sciences > 27 Polymer Chemistry
Divisions:	Food Packaging Technology
Depositing User:	Food Sci. & Technol. Information Services
Date Deposited:	16 Sep 2010 12:02
Last Modified:	03 Jul 2015 12:36
URI:	http://ir.cftri.res.in/id/eprint/9689

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