Studies on the cure kinetics of chitosan‐glutamic acid using glutaraldehyde as crosslinker through differential scanning calorimeter

Abstract The curing of chitosan‐glutamic acid with glutaraldehyde as curing agent in the presence of chlorpheniramine maleate (CPM) is carried out with the help of differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The effect of concentration of chitosan and percentage of crosslinker on the curing of chitosan‐glutamic acid is studied at a heating rate of 5°C/min. Cure kinetics are measured by the DSC using scans from 25 to 220°C at four different heating rates (3, 5, 7, and 10°C/min) and it is observed that the crosslinking of chitosan‐glutamic acid is an exothermic process which results in a positive peak in the DSC thermograms. The activation energy ( E α ) is determined by Flynn, Wall, and Ozawa method for curing of the samples. An increase in activation energy ( E α ) is observed with the extent of conversion. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008