Chitosan films were prepared using 3 chitosan molecular weights and 4 organic acid solvents without
plasticizer. Tensile strength (TS) and elongation (E) ranged from 6.7 to 150.2 MPa, and from 4.1 to 117.8%, respectively.
Water vapor permeability (WVP) and oxygen permeability (OP) ranged from 0.3 to 0.7 ng·m/m2·s·Pa and OP
from 0.4 to 5.8 3 10–8 cc/m2·day·atm, respectively. TS increased with chitosan molecular weight. Acetic acid resulted
in the toughest films followed by malic, lactic, and citric acid, respectively. Films prepared with citric acid had the
highest E values. WVP was not influenced significantly by the molecular weight of chitosan. OP of films prepared
with malic acid was the lowest, followed by acetic, lactic, and citric acid.
Keywords: Chitosan films, molecular weight, organic acids, tensile strength, elongation, Water Vapor Permeability,
Oxygen Permeability