Abstract
Determining the cross-linking time resulting in the best achievable properties in elastomers is a very important factor when considering their mass production. In this paper, five biodegradable polymers were synthesized—poly(xylitol-dicarboxylate-co-butylene dicarboxylate) polymers, based on xylitol obtained from renewable sources. Five different dicarboxylic acids with even numbers of carbon atoms in the aliphatic chain were used: succinic acid, adipic acid, suberic acid, sebacic acid, and dodecanedioic acid. Samples were taken directly after polycondensation (prepolymer samples) and at different stages of the cross-linking process. Physiochemical properties were determined by a gel fraction test, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), quasi-static tensile tests, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR and 13C NMR), and an in vitro biodegradation test. The best cross-linking time was determined to be 288h. Properties and degradation time can be tailored for specific applications by adjusting the dicarboxylic acid chain length.
Highlights
Due to environmental concerns and declines in world oil reserves, it is of great importance to find monomers for polymer synthesis that are obtainable from renewable sources
After the synthesis materials were cast into silicone forms and cross-linked at 100 ◦ C in 100 mb in a vacuum dryer
Materials were considered fully cross-linked after 288h because the value of the gel fraction did not increase for the materials cross-linked for a longer period of time
Summary
Due to environmental concerns and declines in world oil reserves, it is of great importance to find monomers for polymer synthesis that are obtainable from renewable sources. While retaining a core property of biodegradability, and eco-friendliness, a wide variety of sugar alcohol-based elastomers with different physico-chemical properties suitable for specific uses can be obtained by using different dicarboxylic acids and a specific sugar alcohol, like erythritol [4] or xylitol [5]. Another way to fine tune the characteristics is to choose a specific dicarboxylic acid and perform the synthesis using different sugar alcohols [3,6] Further tailoring of their properties can be performed by copolymerization with various diol-dicarboxylates [7,8,9]
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