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In the present paper the results regarding the influence of UV-irradiation with 254 nm wavelength on the thermal and mechanical properties and the intrinsic viscosity of chitosan/silk fibroin mixtures are presented.

The mixture of chitosan and silk fibroin in solution and thin films made of chitosan/silk fibroin mixture obtained by solvent evaporation were submitted to the treatment with UV irradiation (wavelength 254 nm) for different time intervals. Mechanical properties of thin films made of chitosan/silk fibroin blends before and after UV-irradiation have been investigated by mechanical testing machine and compared with mechanical properties of chitosan films. The changes in such mechanical properties as ultimate breaking strength, percentage of elongation at break and Young Modulus have been investigated.

The results have shown, that the mechanical properties of the blends were greatly affected by time of …