Seawater degradable PVA/PCL blends with water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol as degradation accelerator

摘要

In this paper, a series of seawater degradable blends were prepared by blending biodegradable polycaprolactone (PCL) with water-soluble modified polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The results of degradation test in natural seawater for three months show that both quick dissolution of PVA and biodegradation process of PCL occur in PVA/PCL blends and the weight loss of PVA/PCL blends in seawater is much higher compared with that of pure PCL. PVA can be used as an effective hydrolysis accelerator for the PCL matrix. The channels left by quick dissolution of PVA facilitate the entry of water and microorganisms into the materials to contact with the PCL, thereby promoting the biodegradation process of PCL matrix itself. More interesting, a special skin-core structure was constructed by simply injection molding process. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.