SUMMARY
In this research, characteristics of methylcellulose (MC) films modified with two crosslinking methods were investigated. The first method was the use of a glutaraldehyde (GA) crosslinker to promote hemi-acetal linkages between MC chains. The second one was gamma irradiation to form insoluble MC gel by intermolecular crosslinking. The effects of the MC concentration on the degree of crosslinking, water absorption, gel content, degree of swelling, and thermomechanical properties were determined. The results indicate that the chemically crosslinked MC films show lower polarity than the radiation crosslinked films. The nature of the crosslinkings was also revealed with FTIR spectra. The water-swelled films of chemically crosslinked MC were found to provide homogeneous gel structure whereas the radiation crosslinked MC films were observed to render less uniform crosslinked films.