Browsing by Author "AL-ARAJI, Mundher Abid Ali"
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thesis.listelement.badge TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY EFFECTS ON CHITOSAN FIBERS DURING ELECTROSPINNING(2022-01-24) AL-ARAJI, Mundher Abid Ali; ŞAŞMAZEL, Hilal; İŞGÖR, Sultan BelginDuring this research, a natural biodegradable polysaccharide, chitosan (CS), is employed to prepare nanofibers. The temperature and humidity results of the electrospinning process on chitosan fibers are examined within ideal parameters, and these parameters embrace 7 cm for the distance between the needle and collector. In addition, the flow rate was fixed at 2 µl / min, while applied voltage was at 16.5 kV. The process of obtaining a polymer solution was administered by dissolving chitosan powder in trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) on a hot plate ranging between 50 – 55°C with a magnetic stirrer until a homogenous solution was procured. Specific examinations of the chitosan fibers were conducted by SEM, ATR-FTIR, and DSC. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was employed to observe the morphology of chitosan fibers, while Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) was employed to investigate the chemical structural analyses of the chitosan fibers. Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) was done in order to show the melting enthalpy and its temperature changes for different cases of temperature and humidity. The average fiber diameter, pore size distribution, and percentage porosity values were found via ImageJ program (Version, 1.52a) using SEM photographs taken from SEM analysis. The average fiber diameter was determined to be in the range of (260 ± 2.20 – 442 ± 2.72 nm), whereas the pore size distribution (0.039 ± 0.004 – 0.063 ± 0.007 µm) and the porosity was in the range of (49 – 60 %). According to the results of SEM analysis, the fiber diameter decreased with increase in temperature, the pore size distribution and the percentage porosity of chitosan fibers were increased by raising the temperature. In contrast, the average fiber diameter increased after raising the humidity, including the pore size distribution and porosity. ATR-FTIR results showed that the chemical structure of chitosan has the same composition for various cases of the ambient parameters. Thermal properties of chitosan fibers were studied by DSC and the results showed that the variation of temperature and humidity in the production of chitosan fibers leads to change in the melting enthalpy and its temperature.