Preparation and characterization of blend film based on chitosan-poly lactic acid (PLA) composites

Abstract

Blend film is a thin layer made of biomaterial. One of the ingredients commonly used as blend film is chitosan. In the manufacture of blend films, chitosan can be used as a basic component of film manufacture. Chitosan has magnificent features due to its biodegradable and biocompatible and non-toxicity, but unfortunately chitosan is fragile material and generally insoluble in water. Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) and Glycerol was added to improve the characteristics of the film. The purpose of this study was to get the optimum ratio between chitosan and PLA, and get the characteristics of blend film from chitosan-PLA blended. The study was conducted in three step processes: (1) chitosan preparation, which was derived by deacetylation of chitin in the sodium hydroxide solution 50% w/w (2) PLA preparation, which was performed by direct polycondensation mechanism and (3) synthesis chitosan-PLA blend film. Blend film formation that was used the concentration ratio of chitosan: PLA (2:0 to 2:2 w/w), concentration of glycerol 0.03% v/v of chitosan solution, and drying temperature 70 °C for 10 hours. The analysis shows that the more percent of PLA added will decrease the value of tensile strength and elongation at break. The more percent of PLA added will increase the permeability of the film. The results showed that the best combination of chitosan: PLA concentration was on the ratio 2:0.4 of chitosan: PLA with the value of tensile strength and elongation of break of the film were 23.74 MPa and 14.82%.