Crystallization and degradation behaviors of poly(butylene succinate)/poly(Z-l-lysine) composites

• A new biodegradable poly(butylene succinate) (PBS)/poly(Z-l-lysine) (PZlys) composites were successfully prepared through physical blend.
• PZlys may greatly affected the crystallization behaviors of PBS without changing its crystalline structure.
• The degradation speed of PBS may be greatly accelerated by introduction of PZlys in PBS matrix.

A new type of biodegradable poly(butylene succinate) (PBS)/poly(Z-l-lysine) (PZlys) composites were prepared. The crystallization behaviors were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and polarizing optical microscopy (POM) and the results showed that PZlys can restrict the crystallization of PBS, the crystallization speed of PBS/PZlys were slower than that of PBS, and the crystallization degree of the composites were smaller than that of PBS. However, the WAXD results showed that the incorporation of PZlys did not change the crystalline structure of PBS. The in vitro degradation experiments demonstrated that the degradation speed of the composites were faster than that of PBS. Moreover, the mechanical properties of the composites showed that the composites with a proper composition (for example, 80/20) can keep the mechanical properties of PBS without evident difference, which implied that the composites might be potentially useful as biodegradable materials.