The oriented chitosan films obtained from pre-sheared liquid crystalline chitosan/dichloroacetic acid (DCA)solutions were studied by means of polarized optical microscopy (POM)

scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

infra-reddichroism technique and wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD). The shear induced band texture in the film was found tocorrespond to the sinusoidal fibrillar microstructure along the shearing direction on the basis of POM and SEM observations.The sinusoidal fibril was found to be lying within the film plane.The model of chitosan molecular orientation in the presheared film with band texture can be established assuming that the main chain orients in the shearing direction and the side group is perpendicular to the shearing direction.The WAXD azimuthal scanning at 2θ=20° indicates that the (002) plane orients perpendicular to the shearing direction.