Abstract
Poly(glycolic acid) is a biocompatible as well as biocomposable polymer with superior mechanical and barrier properties and, consequently, has found important applications in both medical and packaging fields. However, the high hydrolysis rate in a high humidity environment restricts its application. In this work, a solid-state drawing process after melt extrusion is applied in order to produce fibrous PGA with enhanced mechanical properties and a much better resistance towards hydrolysis. The crystal structure of PGA gradually transformed from spherulites into oriented fibrous crystals in the stretching direction upon solid-state drawing. Meanwhile, both the length of microfibril and the size of lamellae increased initially with the drawing ratio (DR), while the chain-folded lamellae transformed into extended-chain fibrils at high(er) DR. The oriented structures lead to an overall improvement of the mechanical properties of PGA, e.g., the tensile strength increased from 62.0±1.4 MPa to 910±54 MPa and the elongation at break increased from around 7% to 50%. Meanwhile, the heat capacity of totally mobile amorphous PGA (∆Cp0=0.64 J·g−1·°C−1) was reported for the first time, which was used to analyze the content of mobile amorphous fraction (XMAF) and rigid amorphous fraction (XRAF). Both the oriented chain-folded lamellae crystals and the tightly arranged RAF are beneficial to prevent water molecules from penetrating the matrix, thus improving the resistance towards hydrolysis. As a consequence, the fibrous PGA with a DR of 5 showed a tensile strength retention rate of 17.3% higher in comparison with the undrawn sample after 7-days accelerated hydrolysis. Therefore, this work provides a feasible method to improve the mechanical and resistance towards hydrolysis performance of PGA, which may broaden its application and prolong the shelf-life of PGA products.
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Acknowledgments
This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52073123 and 51873082), the Distinguished Young Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20200027). The authors would also like to acknowledge Shanghai Pujing Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. for supplying the PGA raw materials.
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Improvement on the Mechanical Performance and Resistance Towards Hydrolysis of Poly(glycolic acid) via Solid-state Drawing
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Li, JX., Niu, DY., Liu, B. et al. Improvement on the Mechanical Performance and Resistance Towards Hydrolysis of Poly(glycolic acid) via Solid-state Drawing. Chin J Polym Sci 41, 14–23 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-022-2760-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-022-2760-y