Fabrication and Characteristics of Chitosan Non-woven Fabric developed using only water as plasticizer

This article describes a method for producing chitosan non-woven fabrics by just hot pressing without the use of a binder. A study has been made of the wet spinning of chitosan fiber. The fibers were rinsed thoroughly in running water and chopped wet into staples of with a length of approximately 5-10 mm. The chopped chitosan staples were dispersed uniformly in water and fabricated using a non-woven making machine. This study examined the formation and the characteristics of chitosan non-woven fabrics manufactured by hot pressing without the use of a binder. The effects of the non-woven fabrication conditions on the thermal, morphological, structural, and physical properties of chitosan non-woven fabric with and without water as a plasticizer were studied. The temperature of the exothermic peak, decomposition of chitosan fibers increased with increasing heating rate. Water in the chitosan fiber effectively plasticized the chitosan fiber. The thermal bonded structure of the wet chitosan fiber with water as a plasticizer was clearly found in many parts of the non-woven fabric at a fabrication temperature of $200^{\circ}C$. The intensity and profile of the (100) plane($2{\theta}=10.2^{\circ}$) and (040) plane($2{\theta}=20.9^{\circ}$) in the chitosan non-woven fabric decreases and became smooth in the non-woven fabric formation by melting.