Poly(butylene sebacate-co-terephthalate) (PBSeT), a novel biodegradable polymer has been studied as a new biodegradable polymer because of the advangtages of high biodegradability and replacing petroleum-based materials. However, PBSeT has the disadvantages of relatively low thermal and mechanical properties. Solid state polymerization (SSP) is an effective method for increasing properties of semi crystalline polymer. The SSP has normally advanced between the glass transition temperature and melting temperatures of polymers. The reason for setting the SSP process temperature is that the reaction initiates in the amorphous area with end group reactions and by-products are released sequentially from the crystalline region. In this study, PBSeT was synthesized with sebacic acid and dimethyl terephtalate (DMT), and using titanium butoxide (TBT) as a catalyst and SSP was coordinated to improve the properites of PBSeT. The melting temperature and the glass transition temperature of synthesized PBSeT as a control was 94.1°C and -39.3°C each. Through the thermal properties of PBSeT, the SSP process was carried out in a vacuum at 90°C for 3, 5, 12 and 24 hours. The thermal properties of samples taken by SSP were examined by differantial scanning calorimetery (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The melting temperature of PBSeT was increased from 94°C. to 95.7°C, while the glass transition temperature of PBSeT was not changed considerably. The thermal stability of PBSeT after SSP has no significant changes. Mechanical properties indicated that tensile strength of PBSeT was increased as the SSP time increases, and in particular, the sample that progress SSP for 24 hours showed the highest value of tensile strength and increased by 13% compared to the control. The elongation at break of PBSeT was showed a tendency to increase with the time of SSP to 788.4%. As a result, the SSP process achieved an increase of thermal properties and mechanical properties of PBSeT. It was envisaged that properties of biodegradable PBSeT could be improved by SSP.

Solid state polymerization of biodegradable poly(Butylene Sebacate-Co-terephthalate): Influence of progress duration

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