Chitin Nanocrystal Reinforced Wet-Spun Chitosan Fibers

Chitosan (CS) has been extensively studied and found wide applications in the field of biomedicine because of its favorable biological properties. Normal CS fibers are manufactured either by wet-spinning or by dry-jet wet-spinning. However, the poor tensile strength of CS fibers raises much concern. The present study uses chitin nanocrystal (ChiNC), a stiff rod-like nanofiller, to enhance the mechanical properties of wet-spun CS fibers. Owing to the good compatibility between CS and ChiNC, the nanoparticles are well distributed in the CS matrix. When the ChiNCs loading is 5 wt %, the optimal mechanical properties of CS fibers are obtained, and the peak stress is 2.2 cN/dtex and modulus is 145.6 cN/dtex, which are increased by 57% and 84.5%, respectively, compared to that of nonfilled CS fibers under the same processing condition. (C) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.