Enzymatic and Thermal Degradation of Poly(\epsilon-caprolactone), Poly(D,L-lactide), and Their Blends

Sivalingam, G and Vijayalakshmi, SP and Madras, Giridhar (2004) Enzymatic and Thermal Degradation of Poly(\epsilon-caprolactone), Poly(D,L-lactide), and Their Blends. In: Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 43 (24). pp. 7702-7709.

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Abstract

The enzymatic degradation of poly(d,l-lactide) (PLA), poly(\epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL), and their blends by Novozym 435 was studied in toluene at 60 C. Both of the polymers were found to degrade by specific chain end scission. A model based on the continuous distribution kinetics was developed to determine the rate coefficient. The degradation rate coefficient was determined from the time evolution of the specific product. The pyrolytic degradation of these polymers and their blends was also investigated. The presence of PLA did not affect either the thermal or enzymatic degradation of PCL. It was thus concluded that the degradations of the polymers were independent of each other

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
Publisher:	American Chemical Society
Additional Information:	The copyright of this article belongs to American Chemical Society.
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Chemical Engineering
Date Deposited:	10 Jan 2005
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2012 04:49
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/2614

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