Guar gum-chitosan composite film as excellent material for packaging application
2021
Sazzadur Rahman | Achyut Konwar | Gitanjali Majumdar | Devasish Chowdhury
There is a need to develop an environmentally friendly, non-toxic, biodegradable polymer that can replace petroleum-based polymers. The present work is an effort in that direction. Polysaccharide is one of the most potential biopolymers that can be used in the fabrication of packaging material. However, due to some drawbacks of polysaccharides, such as low mechanical properties, high water-solubility, and low barrier properties, they are not preferred. In this work, crosslinked guar gum-chitosan composite film without using any plasticizer was fabricated via the solution casting method. The fabricated biopolymer composite film demonstrated superior properties. The fabricated crosslinked film didn't dissolved in water even after 240 h. The mechanical strength of crosslinked guar gum-chitosan composite film is 39 ± 1.15 MPa, which demonstrates the mechanical strength 3800 times higher than the previous report (approximately 10 kPa). The crosslinked guar gum-chitosan composite film also shows a high contact angle 92.8 ° (hydrophobic), clearly demonstrating the water repellant nature of the film, and low water vapour permeability when compared with the film of chitosan. Thus, the fabricated crosslinked guar gum-chitosan composite film had high water stability, high mechanical strength, and excellent resistance to harsh environmental conditions. Therefore, it can potentially be used in packaging applications.
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