The design, synthesis and properties of pressure-processable biodegradable block copolymers

In this thesis, biodegradable block copolyesters were specifically designed and synthesized for their susceptibility to pressure-induced mixing. These baroplastic materials are capable of being processed and molded through the application of pressure at temperatures far below those needed in traditional melt-processing of biodegradable polyesters. Pressure molding at low temperatures reduces the danger of chain degradation during processing that is ubiquitous in biodegradable plastics. The compressible regular solution model (CRS), in combination with group contribution (GC) methods and pressure-volume-temperature (PVT) data, was used to predict the phase behavior and pressure-induced miscibility of several block copolymer systems. Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) experiments confirmed that amorphous forms of the poly([epsilon]-caprolactone-ran-5 ethylene ketal [epsilon]-caprolactone)-block-poly(lactic acid) (PmCL-b-PLA) system exhibit pressure- induced miscibility, and small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) revealed that the position of the upper disorder-to-order temperature (UDOT) in those systems is near the values predicted by the CRS model.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Lovell, Nathan Gary

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Anne M. Mayes.

• Materials Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33614

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/33614