Physical and mechanical properties of chitosan films as affected by drying methods and addition of antimicrobial agent

Incorporation of an antimicrobial agent into a biopolymer matrix not only affects the antimicrobial property, but also the physical, mechanical and barrier properties of the resulted films. In addition to the effect of antimicrobial agent different drying methods that are used to prepare the films should also be considered. The aim of this study was to investigate the combined effects of drying methods, namely, hot air drying and low-pressure superheated steam drying (LPSSD), and addition of a natural antimicrobial agent, namely, galangal extract, at concentrations of 0%, 0.6%, 0.9%, 1.2% and 1.5% (w/w film forming solution) on selected physical properties (thickness, moisture content, color and opacity), mechanical properties (tensile strength and percent elongation), barrier properties (water vapor and oxygen permeabilities), degree of crystallinity and degree of swelling of antimicrobial films prepared from chitosan. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy as well as dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) were also performed and their results used to explain the observed combined effects. The combined effects were noted to have a statistically insignificant influence on the moisture content, thickness and water vapor permeability of the films. On the other hand, the combined effects had a statistically significant influence on the color, degree of crystallinity, degree of swelling, tensile strength, percent elongation and oxygen permeability of the films. Only the galangal extract concentration had a statistically significant influence on the film opacity. The DMA patterns and FTIR spectra confirmed the formation of crosslinkage interactions between the galangal extract and chitosan matrix.