PREPARATION AND BIOCOMPATIBILITY EVALUATION OF COMPATIBILIZED BLENDS OF THERMOPLASTIC POLYURETHANE AND POLYDIMETHYL SILOXANE RUBBER

摘要

Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and polydimethyl siloxane rubber (PDMS) are two widely used polymers in biomedical applications. The paper deals with the studies on preparation of a blend of TPU and PDMS (80:20) compatibilized with varying amounts of copolymer of Ethylene and Methyl Acrylate (EMA). The prepared blends were characterized in terms of mechanical properties and morphology and it was concluded that 2 wt% of EMA effectively compatibilized the blend of TPU and PDMS. The in-vitro biocompatibility studies carried out as per ISO-10993-5 using L929 mouse fibroblast subcutaneous connective tissue cell line revealed that the blend material is non cytotoxic and could be developed further for various biomedical applications.