Surface Functionalization of Polylactic Film with N-vinylcaprolactam using Photoinduction Process
- PDF / 124,191 Bytes
- 7 Pages / 612 x 792 pts (letter) Page_size
- 68 Downloads / 141 Views
Surface Functionalization of Polylactic Film with N-vinylcaprolactam using Photoinduction Process
a
Mario H. Gutiérrez-Villarreal
a*
, J. Gustavo Guzmán-Moreno
a
Departamento de Procesos de Transformación de Plásticos, Centro de Investigación en Química Aplicada. Blvd. Enrique Reyna Hermosillo #140, Col. Saltillo 400, C.P. 25253, Saltillo, Coahuila, México. *[email protected].
ABSTRACT: A versatile and non destructive technique for a chemical modification by grafting Nvinylcaprolactam (VCL) monomer on the polylactic (PLA) film surface is described. The film substrate is treated with a VCL solution, hexane and benzophenone (BP), the latest promotes the photo initiation. Grafting percentage is derived by a gravimetric method and the success in grafting is evaluated by contact angle technique, UV and ATR-FTIR analysis. The influence of the photoinitiator concentration is evaluated by the polymerization rate (Cp), grafting percentage (Cg) and grafting efficiency (Eg). The modified surface shows higher level of humectation or hydrophilicity, confirming successful surface functionalization of the polylactic acid film. Key words: Polylactic acid, vinylcaprolactam, surface modification, photografting. INTRODUCTION: Biodegradable polymers are economically attractive due to the environmental behavior and the high oil costs. PLA is a known biodegradable and bioabsorbible polyester, which is produced from renewable natural sources [Lunt, 1998]. The easy degradation, versatility, and thermal-mechanical performance of this polymer allows for an ideal substitution of a significant volume of oil derivative polymers. [Mehta et al, 2005]. PLA has excellent biological compatibility and good physical properties. One of its applications is in the medical care sector such as tissue fixing, medicinal drug transmission, wound dressing, and wound healing. However, the unmodified hydrophobic surface is not easily altered because it is highly crystalline and is not appropriate for direct contacting with biological environments limiting its use in many applications. Surface modification of PLA has the potential to expand its application into various biological and medical areas where enhanced wettability is required making the surface bioactive. Grafting VCL on the PLA substrate is of scientific and practical interest, since according to Källrot et al. [2007], it is expected to produce a material with a higher rate of degradation and completely biocompatible, with sensitivity to temperature, pH, nature of the medium, ionic strength, electric field, etc. These are the intrinsic properties of VCL [ Kudryavtsev et
al., 2003]. Publications have scarcely reported using VCL monomer as a grafting material on other substrates, either by methods such as molten, aqueous solution and even photografting radiation [Kudryavtsev et al., 2003]. The modification of PLA surface with hydrophilic functional groups opens new possibilities for application in the medical field as it significantly increases its biocompatibility [Gutierrez, 2008 ], and the rat
Data Loading...
