Paper-making process with regenerated chitin fibers

Abstract

The invention provides a novel method for making paper of regenerated chious fibers without the use of any binder materials. By virtue of the inherent physiological inertness of the chitinous fibers and the absence of any binder materials, the paper obtained by the inventive method is advantageously used in medical treatment in contact with living body tissues. The principle of the method is that the chitinous fibers prepared by a wet spinning process are never brought into a dry condition or always kept wet with water down to the step of sheet making so that the self-bonding power of the fibers by the hydrogen bonding is never decreased and a chitinous paper with sufficient strengths can be prepared without a binder material. Alternatively, once dried chitinous fibers can be treated with a hydrogen-bond forming agent, e.g. urea, so that the sheet making is equally successful without the use of a binder material.