Effect of milling time on microstructures of nano-sized chitosan

Effect of milling time on the microstructures of nano-sized chitosan was investigate is the objective of this work. Variations of milling times were used 0,120 and 180 minutes as indicated by CH0, CH120 and CH180. For as-prepared chitosan is CH0. The FTIR results showed that there are not clearly different of the function groups after ball milling treatment. The average crystallite size results of nano-sized chitosan are 20 nm. The milling process can decrease crystalline size, but significantly to increase the Polydispersity Index. The FTIR and XRD results showed the crystalline size of nano-sized chitosan changed on the milling time but did not change the chemical structure. It could be concluded that the milling time can be applied to the synthesis the nano-sized chitosan and to reduce the particle size. It also confirms that the ball mill treatment did not automatically alter the structural properties of nano-sized chitosan. (paper)