A model for simultaneous crystallisation and biodegradation of biodegradable polymers
Open accessAbstract
This paper completes the model of biodegradation for biodegradable polymers that was previously developed by Wang et al. (Wang Y, Pan J, Han X, Sinka, Ding L. A phenomenological model for the degradation of biodegradable polymers. Biomaterials 2008;29:3393-401). Crystallisation during biodegradation was not considered in the previous work which is the topic of the current paper. For many commonly used biodegradable polymers, there is a strong interplay between crystallisation and hydrolysis reaction during biodegradation - the chain cleavage caused by the hydrolysis reaction provides an extra mobility for the polymer chains to crystallise and the resulting crystalline phase becomes more resistant to further hydrolysis reaction. This paper presents a complete theory to describe this interplay. The fundamental equations in the Avrami's theory for crystallisation are modified and coupled to the diffusion-reaction equations that were developed in our previous work. The mathematical equations are then applied to three biodegradable polymers for which long term degradation data are available in the literature. It is shown that the model can capture the behavior of the major biodegradable polymers very well.
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Embrittlement of PLLA can be caused by either enthalpy relaxation or crystallisation.
“This embrittlement can be caused by either enthalpy relaxation or crystallisation.”
From Tuning structural relaxations, mechanical properties, and degradation timescale of PLLA during hydrolytic degradation by blending with PLCL-PEG (2019) · cites this paper as [22]
Crystallisation of PLLA occurs during degradation when hydration and hydrolysis-induced chain scission provide additional chain mobility.
“it also occurs during degradation when hydration and hydrolysis-induced chain scission provide additional chain mobility [20-22].”
From Tuning structural relaxations, mechanical properties, and degradation timescale of PLLA during hydrolytic degradation by blending with PLCL-PEG (2019) · cites this paper as [22]
Chain cleavage resulting from hydrolysis provides additional mobility for the polymer to rearrange into a crystalline structure.
“The chain cleavage resulting from the hydrolysis reaction provides additional mobility for the polymer to rearrange into a crystalline structure [22]”
From Tuning structural relaxations, mechanical properties, and degradation timescale of PLLA during hydrolytic degradation by blending with PLCL-PEG (2019) · cites this paper as [22]
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“he reduced free volume in the densied structure [17]. The chain cleavage resulting from the hydrolysis reaction provides additional mobility for the polymer to rearrange into a crystalline structure [22], leading to those blends that degrade faster (greater PLCL-PEG content, and greater CL content in copolymer) having…”
BackgroundD'Amario, J., Limsukon, W., Bher, A., & Auras, R. (2025) · RSC Applied Polymers · doi:10.1039/d5lp00041f · Cited by 22 · see citing works
- Authors
- Han, X., & Pan, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Leicester (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Pan, Jingzhe
- Venue
- Biomaterials
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-01
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 423-430
- ISSN
- 0142-9612 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2081841769
- Cited by
- 143
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 2.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- figshare.com
- Licence
- Locations
- Biomaterials (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Leicester Research Archive (University of Leicester) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (S57996)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › biodegradable polymer synthesis and properties
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Polymers and Plastics › Polymer crystallization and properties
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › Magnesium Alloys: Properties and Applications
- Keywords
- biodegradable polymers, crystallization, biodegradation, hydrolysis, Avrami equation, reaction-diffusion systems, chain cleavage, long-term degradation
- MeSH terms
- Biodegradation, Environmental, Crystallization, Hydrolysis, Models, Chemical, Polymers, Reproducibility of Results
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