• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.473-480
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• 2008

In this study we investigated bacterial and cell adhesion to poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) films, that had been synthesized by the copolymerization of carbon dioxide (a global warming chemical) with propylene oxide. We also assessed the biocompatibility and biodegradability of the films in vivo, and their oxidative degradation in vitro. The bacteria adhered to the smooth, hydrophobic PPC surface after 4 h incubation. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterococcus faecalis had the highest levels of adhesion, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus had the lowest levels, and Staphylococcus epidermidis was intermediate. In contrast, there was no adhesion of human cells (cell line HEp-2) to the PPC films, due to the hydrophobicity and dimensional instability of the surface. On the other hand, the PPC films exhibited good biocompatibility in the mouse subcutaneous environment. Moreover, contrary to expectation the PPC films degraded in the mouse subcutaneous environment. This is the first experimental confirmation that PPC can undergo surface erosion biodegradation in vivo. The observed biodegradability of PPC may have resulted from enzymatic hydrolysis and oxidative degradation processes. In contrast, the PPC films showed resistance to oxidative degradation in vitro. Overall, PPC revealed high affinity to bioorganisms and also good bio-degradability.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.558-564
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• 2011

The biocompatibility and biodegradability of poly(amino acid) make them ideal candidates for many bio-related applications. Poly(aspartic acid), PASP, is one of synthetic water-soluble polymers with proteinlike structure, and has been extensively explored for the potential industrial and biomedical applications due to its biodegradable, biocompatible and pH-responsive properties. In this work, amino acid-conjugated PASPs were prepared by aminolysis reaction onto polysuccinimide (PSI) using ${\gamma}$-aminobutylic acid(GABA) and ${\beta}$-alanine methyl ester and a subsequent hydrolysis process. Their chemical gels were prepared by crosslinking reaction with ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (EGDE). The hydrogels were investigated for their basic swelling behavior, hydrolytic degradation and morphology. The crosslinked gels showed a responsive swelling behavior, which was dependent on pH and salt concentration in aqueous solution, and relatively fast hydrolytic degradation.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.16-20
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• 2021

Since the durability evaluation for improving the durability of PEMFC polymer membranes is very important for the development of PEMFC, research and development of the polymer membrane durability evaluation protocol (AST) continues. Recently, DOE's polymer membrane chemical/mechanical durability evaluation AST was developed and applied to Nafion XL for review. In order to shorten the evaluation time, oxygen was used as a cathode gas instead of air, and it was finished in 144 hours. Since DOE AST has a large number of voltage changes with 45 seconds of humidification and 30 seconds of drying, the degradation of the electrode has more influence on the MEA durability. Therefore, one cycle time was lengthened with 60sec of wet/300sec of dry, and the drying time was made longer than the humidification time to further deteriorate the polymer membrane, and it was finished in 240 hours. It was confirmed that the DOE AST for evaluation of the durability of the polymer membrane was accompanied by electrode degradation.

• Biomaterials and Biomechanics in Bioengineering
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2019

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of total polymer concentration on the chemical structure, morphology of pores, porosity, swelling ratio, degradation of gelatin-poly (vinyl alcohol) (Gel-PVA) cryogel scaffolds. Porous cryogels were prepared with cryogelation technique by using glutaraldehyde as a crosslinker. Functional group composition of cryogels after crosslinking was investigated by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR). The morphology of cryogels was characterized via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and porosity analysis. All of the cryogels had a porous structure with an average pore size between $45.58{\pm}14.28$ and $50.14{\pm}4.26{\mu}m$. The cryogels were biodegradable and started to degrade in 14 days. As the polymer concentration increased the swelling ratio, the porosity and the degradation rate decreased. Spongy and mechanically stable Gel-PVA cryogels, with tunable properties, can be potential candidates as scaffolds for tissue engineering applications.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.547-552
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• 2010

Biodegradable polymers have gained enormous attentions in the pharmaceutical and biomedical applications, especially in drug delivery. In this work, we report the synthesis and characteristics of high molecular weight polyoxalate with ~75000 Da. Hydrolytic degradation kinetics and degradation products were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance and gel permeation chromatography. Polyoxalate is a semicrystalline and thermally stable polymer with a glass transition temperature of ${\sim}35^{\circ}C$, which is suitable for drug delivery applications. The hydrophobic nature of polyoxalate allows it to be formulated into nanoparticles and encapsulate drugs using a conventional oil-in-water emulsion/solvent displacement method. Polyoxalate nanoparticles also exhibited excellent cytotoxicity profiles. It can be suggested that polyoxalate has great potential for numerous biomedical and pharmaceutical applications.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.888-893
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to make clear the durability of the polymer films formed in the autoclaved polymer-modified mortars and concretes. The polymer films prepared with polymer dispersions such as a styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) latex, a poly (ethylene-vinyl acetate)(EVA) emulsion and a polyacrylic ester (PAE) emulsion for polymeric admixtures are exposed to autoclaving at 18$0^{\circ}C$ in temperature and 1.01 MPa in vapor pressure, and subjected to tensile test and infrared spectroscopy. The durability of the polymer films is evaluated from the application of autoclaving to the polymer films under saturated Ca(OH)$_2$ solution immersion causes no degradation for SBR films and a significant degradation due to the saponification of the polymers for EVA and PAE films. Accordingly, in the application of autoclaving to polymer-modified mortars and concretes, it is suggested that SBR-modified mortars and concretes are hardly degraded but EVA- and PAE-modified mortars and concretes are markedly degraded by the saponification of the polymers.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.520-524
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• 2009

The effects of oxidative degradation on the performance of crosslinked polyethylene pipes were analyzed by the investigation of tensile properties and chemical structure change of the pipes during oxidative degradation. Annealing at high temperatures or UV irradiation method was used to induce the oxidative degradation of the crosslinked polyethylene pipes and the effects of the die temperature on the oxidative degradation of the pipes were also investigated. The tensile properties and chemical structure change of the pipes were investigated by universal testing machine and FT-IR, respectively. With the progress of thermo-oxidative degradation the tensile strength of the pipes slowly decreased but the elongation at break rapidly decreased, and the chemical structure of the pipes also changed considerably because of the introduced oxygen molecules. These results would be useful in estimating the performance deterioration of the crosslinked polyethylene pipes due to the oxidative degradation during production and storage.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.676-680
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• 2006

The biodegradable $\beta$-tricalcium phosphate ($\beta$-TCP)/poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) composites were synthesized by in situ polymerization with microwave energy. The degradation behavior of $\beta$-TCP/PLGA composite was investigated by soaking in simulated body fluid (SBF) for 4 weeks. The molecular weight of the $\beta$-TCP/PLGA composites decreased with soaking time until week 2, whereas the loss rate of molecular weight reduced after week 2. The incubation time was needed for the degradation of the $\beta$-TCP, indicating that the $\beta$-TCP should be detached from the PLGA matrix and then degraded into SBF solution. The studies of mass loss of the composites with the soaking time revealed that the degradation behavior of PLGA would be processed with the transformation from the polymer to the oligomer followed by the degradation. Morphological changes, whisker-like, due to transformation and degradation of polymer in the composites were observed after week 2. On the basis of the results, it found that the degradation behavior of $\beta$-TCP/PLGA composites was influenced by the $\beta$-TCP content in the composites and the degradation rate of the composites could be controlled by the initial molecular weight of PLGA in the composites.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.3437-3443
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• 2013

The polymer insulators have been extensively used as an alternate material of ceramic insulators. However, when they are used in practical conditions, there are many problems of decreasing performance and shortening lifetime due to the exposures of degradation factors applied from the outdoor situations. Accordingly, the analysis of polymer degradations has been getting influential too late as one of important subjects for improvements of safety and reliability. Heat, water treatments are arbitrary simulated for finding out the initiations and processes of surface degradation on the polymer surface. Especially, this study is focused on the chemical changes properties. From the analysis of hydrophilic and hydrophobic molecular structures, final modeling of surface degradation is accomplished. We checked the contact angle depending on heat and moisturized accelerated degradation and ran an XPS analysis to check the mechanism change of the surface of the PCB polymer composite. The surface that had a tendency to attract moisture showed a decrease in the contact angle and generated a large amount of carboxyl($-COO^*$) radicals. The hydrophobized surface showed an increase in the contact angle and had a stable chemical composition constituted of the breakaway of oxygen radicals and the formation of double bond by carburization.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.768-773
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• 2019

The Fenton reaction, which evaluates the electrochemical durability of polymer membranes of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEMFC), and the degradation of polymer membranes by OCV holding method are compared. The Fenton reaction is a method that can evaluate the chemical durability of the polymer membrane at outside the cell in a shorter time than the OCV Holding method. The Fenton reaction was carried out at 30% hydrogen peroxide, 10 ppm iron, and $80^{\circ}C$ for 24 hours. OCV Holding was driven at $90^{\circ}C$, 30% relative humidity and OCV for 168 hours. The Fenton reaction caused a lot of degradation inside the polymer membrane. On the other hand, in OCV Holding, the membrane thickness was thinned by the entire surface and internal degradation. The fluorine emission rate was more than 10 times higher than that of OCV Holding due to the Fenton reaction. The hydrogen permeation rate increased about 30% at 24 hours of Fenton reaction. At OCV Holding, hydrogen permeability decreased after 24 hours and then increased. As a whole, there was a difference in a membranes deteriorated by Fenton reaction and OCV Holding.