An innovative technique for processing biocompatible polyelectrolytes at a large scale has been presented in this work. A polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) is simply prepared by mixing the polycation, poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride), with the polyanion, poly(styrene sulfonate) sodium salt, in the presence of salt to form an ionically bonded polymeric network. The challenge is how to process the porous hydrated tough PEC. This PEC is 'saloplastic' since it can be plasticized by adding extensive salt where more of the physical cross-links in the polymeric network are broken. The PEC was extruded in a standard laboratory extruder under the effect of salt plasticization, heat, and shear forces. A variety of shapes was extruded , such as flat tapes, textures tapes, fibers and tubes. The toughness of the biocompatible extruded saloplastics at low salt concentrations is comparable to that of the tendon (about 2 MJ m-3). This material is promising for bioengineering applications.

Biocompatible extruded saloplastics

244th National Meeting (2012)

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