Abstract:

This article presents research results concerning the formation of chitosan fibres modified by silk-fibroin. Silk-fibroin isolated from the Bombyx mori silkworm cocoons and chitosan were used for our investigations. In order to find advantageous fibre-formation conditions, the influence of bath composition and spinning solution composition on the silk-fibroin content in the bath were tested. The best coagulation bath for spinning solution with 5% silk-fibroin content was the aqueous solution of NaOH at concentration of 10%. In the case of spinning solution with 10 and 15% of silk-fibroin the best coagulation bath was aqueous solution of NaOH at concentration of 10% with an ethyl alcohol in the ratio of 70:30. The chitosan/silk-fibroin fibres obtained under these conditions were characterised by a silk-fibroin content from 4,5 to 11% and by mechanical properties sufficient for their further processing into dressing materials.