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Thermal, mechanical and degradation properties of flexible poly (1,3-trimethylene carbonate)/poly (L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) blends

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Abstract

The material used for soft tissue should be flexible and elastic. Poly (1,3-trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC) and poly (L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) (PLCL) were flexible and elastic bioabsorbable polymers. PLCL of various content (10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 wt%) was blended into PTMC by the solution co-precipitation method to improve the mechanical properties and adjust the degradation rate of PTMC. The thermal, mechanical, and degradation properties of PTMC/PLCL blends were studied. FTIR showed that the blend of PTMC and PLCL was a physical process. The morphology of fracture surfaces showed that the compatibility of PTMC and PLCL changed with the composition. There was obvious phase separation in PTMC/PLCL (50/50). PTMC / PLCL blends had two glass transition temperatures. The compatibility observed by DSC was consistent with the results of the SEM images of the fracture surfaces. PTMC / PLCL (70/30) had the largest tensile strength up to 19.0 Mpa. The elastic modulus of the blends didn’t change very much with their composition. Compared with pure PTMC, PTMC/PLCL blends showed a higher rate of degradation. However, the PTMC/PLCL blend can provide higher mechanical strength than PTMC during the 12-week degradation period. Meanwhile, cell experiments showed that the PTMC/PLCL blend was non-toxic and didn’t affect the growth and proliferation of the cell. Therefore, PTMC/PLCL with suitable flexibility and elasticity, excellent biocompatibility, and inherent biodegradability can provide a promising alternative choice for the application of soft tissue implants, such as a ureteral stent.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Science and Technology Support Program of Jiangsu Province, China (No. BE2018647). And the authors would like to thank Qian Fu from Shiyanjia Lab (www.shiyanjia.com) for various characterizations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chengdu Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, 610041, People’s Republic of China

    Xiliang Liu, Shaomin Feng, Xin Wang, Wei Bai, Jianping Xiao, Dongliang Chen, Chengdong Xiong & Lifang Zhang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, People’s Republic of China

    Xiliang Liu & Shaomin Feng

  3. State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Song Liu

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  1. Xiliang Liu
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  2. Song Liu
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  3. Shaomin Feng
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  4. Xin Wang
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Liu, X., Liu, S., Feng, S. et al. Thermal, mechanical and degradation properties of flexible poly (1,3-trimethylene carbonate)/poly (L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) blends. J Polym Res 28, 447 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-021-02802-9

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