Studies on Development of Environmentally Benign Lactone based Polymers and their Composites for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

quotThe current research work deals with various strategies to chemically connect the newlinemonomers (lactide and and#949;-caprolactone) at the molecular level and reduce the macrophase newlineseparation between them which is often witnessed when blending their respective polymers (PLA and PCL). This has been done by the random and block copolymerization techniques, where the block copolymerization (step ring opening polymerization) leads to the improved mechanical properties (strength, elongation, toughness and modulus) with the increasing block length of PLA. The diblock copolymers (PCL-PLA) and their stereocomplex blends are thermally processed by injection molding to form cortical and cancellous bone screws which are further tested for their thermomechanical stability at the sterilization temperature of biomedical devices. The linear triblock copolymers (PLA-PCL-PLA) result in the significant improvement in the mechanical properties as compared to the diblock copolymers. The triblock copolymer is thermally processed by twin-screw extruder to fabricate the filament followed by 3D printing to form a scaffold. The biocompatibility of the block copolymers is ascertained by performing MTT assay using human/rat bonequot newline