Improved processability and performance of biomedical devices with poly(lactic acid)/poly(ethylene glycol) blends

摘要

To improve the processability of micropolymer-based devices used for biomedical applications, poly(lactic acid) (PLA) was melt-blended with poly(ethylene glycol)s (PEGs) of different molecular weights (MWs; weight-average MWs = 200, 800, 2000, and 4000; these PEGS are referred to as PEG200, PEG800, PEG2000, and PEG4000, respectively, in this article). The thermal properties, mechanical properties, and rheological properties of the PLA and the PLA-PEG blends were investigated. The tensile samples' morphologies showed that the low-MW PEGs filled molds well. The rheological properties confirmed that the low-MW PEGs decreased the complex viscosity, and improved the processability. With decreasing PEG MW, the PLA glass-transition temperature decreased. The nanoindenter data show that the addition of PEG decreased the modulus and hardness of PLA. The morphologies of the tensile samples showed that with increasing PEG MW, the thicknesses of the core layers increased gradually. The elongation at break was improved by approximately 247 with the addition of PEG200. Such methods can produce easily processed biological materials for producing biomedical products. (C) 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.