Moisture sorption, transport, and hydrolytic degradation in polylactide.
Management of moisture penetration and hydrolytic degradation of polylactide (PLA) is extremely important during the manufacturing, shipping, storage, and end-use of PLA products. Moisture transport, crystallization, and degradation, in PLA have been measured through a variety of experimental techniques including size-exclusion chromatography, differential scanning calorimetry, and X-ray diffraction. Quartz crystal microbalance and dynamic vapor sorption experiments have also been used to measure moisture sorption isotherms in PLA films with varying crystallinity. A surprising result is that, within the accuracy of the experiments, crystalline and amorphous PLA films exhibit identical sorption isotherms.
Chemical and Biological Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. cairncross@drexel.edu
Richard A
RA
Cairncross
Jeffrey G
JG
Becker
Shri
S
Ramaswamy
Ryan
R
O'Connor
D000042:Absorption; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D004058:Diffusion; D006868:Hydrolysis; D008422:Materials Testing; D011091:Polyesters / Q000737:chemistry*; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods; D014867:Water / Q000032:analysis*
D001704:Biopolymers; D011091:Polyesters; D014867:Water; C033616:poly(lactide)