Early development of a biodegradable energetic elastomer

Abstract

The expected depletion of oil resources and a greater awareness for the environmental impact of plastic products have created a strong interest toward energetic polymers that are not only biodegradable but also obtainable from renewable resources. In this work, a copoly(ester/ether) was synthesized from polyepichlorohydrin and sebacoyl chloride using pyridine as a Lewis-base catalyst. The chlorinated polymer was azidified with NaN 3 in dimethyl sulfoxide solutions. The success of the reaction was confirmed by 1 H-NMR, 13 C-NMR, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Two types of polyurethane networks were synthesized from the nonenergetic and the energetic copolymers, adding polycaprolactone triol and using L-lysine diisocyanate as a nontoxic curing agent. The two resulting polyurethanes were soft thermoset elastomers. The polyurethanes were chemically and mechanically characterized, and their biodegradability was evaluated in compost at 55 C. The nonenergetic and the energetic polyurethanes showed a glass-transition temperature of À14 C, and À23 C, respectively. The weight loss of the polyurethanes during the composting experiments was monitored. It increased almost linearly with time for both materials. After 20 days, the nonenergetic samples lost about 50% of their mass because of the biodegradation mechanism. Instead, the energetic elastomers lost only about 25% of their initial mass after 25 days. The experimental results revealed that the azide pendant group in the soft segment (the polyether segments) is the main factor that controls the physical, mechanical, and degradation properties of these polyurethane networks.

Selective degradation of biodegradable blends in simulated laboratory composting

“…total CO 2 evolution and total weight loss, to their degradation and composting rate. [6,9,18,[40][41][42][43][44] As mentioned above, measurement of evolved CO2 is one of the techniques that can quantitatively determine the rate of degradation of the whole product, under aerobic active microbial conditions, as addressed by the ASTMD6400 [43,45,46]. Other techniques to determine the rate of degradation of a product include weight loss measurement, monitoring molecular weight change and the change in mechanical properties of the test products.…”

“…Few works address the successful use of FTIR in following degradation of pure biodegradable plastics after composting. [46,49] In this study we address and reliable method to analyze the selectivity of composting of biodegradable blends. This understanding of phase-wise degradation will assist in future determination of biodegradation rate of blends of multiphase and multilayer structures made from biodegradable resins.…”

A lignin‐based flame retardant for improving fire behavior and biodegradation performance of polybutylene succinate

“…However, while the traditional polymer plastics bring convenience to people's lives, its used waste “white pollution” is hard to be degraded under natural conditions, which seriously affects human's ecological environment. This promotes the rapid development of degradable materials . Recently, extensive attention has been received on polybutylene succinate (PBS), one of the most competitive biodegradable polymers produced from renewable resources.…”

Surface Modification of Biopolymers by Argon Plasma and Thermal Treatment

“…Polymers are widely used materials with the advantages of easy manufacturing, low density and optimal physical, mechanical, thermal and electrical properties 1. Successful applications of polymers2 can be found in protective coatings, composites with metals, microelectronic devices and in thin layer technology 3. The role of polymer‐based materials in healing therapy, implantable medical devices, synthetic organs, prosthetic materials, eye surgery medicine, stomatology, tissue engineering and target drug delivering is of great importance 4.…”