Study on the Poly-lactic Acid Fiber Treated by Chitosan

Poly-lactic acid(PLA) fiber treated by chitosan solution was investigated in the paper. Nano-particles of Chitosan used in present work were formed via ionotropic gelation method. The structures and properties of PLA fibers treated by different types of chitosan were tested and analyzed. It can be observed from SEM that the surface of PLA fibers was attached by the chitosan particles under some treatment technology. Some other changes of the fibers in morphology and aggregation structure were also observed from SEM, FTIR spectra and DSC. The increase of fibers' moisture regain proves that Nano-particles of Chitosan can improve the moisture absorption of PLA. It is also shown that the breaking strength keeps stable after chitosan and chitosan nano-particles treatment, but decreases after crosslink reaction. The flexibility and spring distortion increase after crosslink reaction treatment. And the reasons for thermal properties and mechanical properties of treated fibers were analyzed briefly.