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Investigation of the Influence of PLA Molecular and Supramolecular Structure on the Kinetics of Thermal-Supported Hydrolytic Degradation of Wet Spinning Fibres

Submitted:

15 April 2020

Posted:

16 April 2020

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Abstract
In this study, differences in the kinetics of thermal-supported hydrolytic degradation of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) sample wet spinning fibres due to material variance in the initial molecular and supramolecular structure were analysed. The investigation was carried out at the microstructural and molecular levels by using readily available methods such as scanning electron microscopy, mass erosion measurement and estimation of intrinsic viscosity. The results show a varying degree of influence of the initial structure on the degradation rate of studied PLA fibres. The experiment shows that hydrolytic degradation at a temperature close to the cold crystallization temperature on a macroscopic level is definitely more rapid for the amorphous material, while on a molecular scale it is similar to a semi-crystalline material. Further, for the adopted degradation temperature of 90 °C, a marginal influence of pH of the degradation medium on the degradation kinetics was also demonstrated
Keywords: 
polylactide; thermal degradation; hydrolytic degradation; fibres; kinetic of erosion; kinetics of degradation
Subject: 
Chemistry and Materials Science  -   Polymers and Plastics
Copyright: This open access article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permit the free download, distribution, and reuse, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse.

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