Effects of material thickness and processing method on poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) degradation and mechanical performance

Shirazi, Reyhaneh Neghabat, Aldabbagh, Fawaz, Ronan, William, Erxleben, Andrea, Rochev, Yury, & McHugh, Peter. (2016). Effects of material thickness and processing method on poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) degradation and mechanical performance. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine, 27(10), 1-12. doi: 10.1007/s10856-016-5760-z

Abstract

In this study, the effects of material thickness and processing method on the degradation rate and the changes in the mechanical properties of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) material during simulated physiological degradation were investigated. Two types of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) materials were considered: 0.12¿mm solvent-cast films and 1¿mm compression-moulded plates. The experimental results presented in this study were compared to the experimental results of Shirazi et al. (Acta Biomaterialia 10(11):4695-703, 2014) for 0.25¿mm solvent-cast films. These experimental observations were used to validate the computational modelling predictions of Shirazi et al. (J Mech Behav Biomed Mater 54: 48-59, 2016) on critical diffusion length scale and also to refine the model parameters. The specific material processing methods considered here did not have a significant effect on the degradation rate and the changes in mechanical properties during degradation; however, they influenced the initial molecular weight and they determined the stiffness and hardness of the poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) material. The experimental observations strongly supported the computational modelling predictions that showed no significant difference in the degradation rate and the changes in the elastic modulus of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) films for thicknesses larger than 100¿¿m.

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Springer Verlag

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Ireland

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Biomedical Engineering (Scholarly Articles)