Miscibility and physical properties of chitosan and polyacrylamide blends

Abstract

Miscibility studies of chitosan/polyacrylamide (Ch/PAM) and chitosan/partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (Ch/HPAM) blends of different compositions were investigated using viscometric method. The intrinsic viscosity, ([η]), and the viscosity interaction parameters, (bm), have been determined for the binary (solvent/polymer) and ternary (solvent/polymer A/polymer B) systems. Degree of miscibility of these polymer blends was estimated on the basis of two criteria. These studies indicate that chitosan/polyacrylamide and chitosan/partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide are miscible at any composition in 0.1mol·dm−3 CH3COOH+0.2mol·dm−3 NaCl at 25°C. The influence of blend composition on mechanical properties was also investigated in this study. Ch, PAM, HPAM and their blend films were prepared by casting technique. The mechanical properties such as ultimate tensile strength and Young modulus depend on the weight fraction of chitosan and were changed irregularly. The FTIR spectroscopy also supports the obtained results. The miscibility of polymer mixtures is related to the interactions between the functional groups of the polymeric components.