Structural and mechanical properties of chitosan/PVA composite reinforced by Ag/Au

Abstract

The sample was created in two stages, the first stage is preparing a solution of chitosan (CS) powder by adding it gradually to acetic acid placed on the electric  magnetic stirrer device with a small magnetic leg in the beaker until we get a homogeneous solution. As for the second stage, preparing a solution of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) powder by dissolving it with distilled water, and adding it gradually until we get a homogeneous solution. Then the two solutions are mixed with each other and gradually while they remain on the electric magnetic stirrer device. After that, the resulting solution was enriched with gold and silver nanoparticles in different ratios (Au NPs/Ag NPs) using a constant ratio of chitosan solution and polyvinyl alcohol for all samples. The best percentage after conducting the tests was CS/PVA (90:10) blends reinforced with Ag NPs/Au NPs. Nanoparticles of both are (2 mL). Inspection techniques were performed for the resulting structural and mechanical samples using the FTIR, DSC and the tensile test, from which we extracted Youngâs modulus and the maximum elongation of the sample. It was found through the tests that the results were better with the addition of silver nanoparticles and gold nanoparticles. The values of the young coefficient increase from 1.54 GPa until it reaches its highest value at 2.05 GPa. The highest value of the Youngâs coefficient was for the (50% AuNPs and 50% AgNPs).