Degradation of cross-linked aliphatic polyester composed of poly(ɛ-caprolactone-co-d,l-lactide) depending on the thermal properties

In this study, we prepared cross-linked aliphatic polyester derived from branched poly(ɛ-caprolactone (abbreviated as CL)-co-d,l-lactide (abbreviated as LA)) macromonomers with different CL and LA compositions and investigated the effect of thermal properties on their degradation. According to the degradation study, the weight loss became larger with increasing LA composition in poly(CL-co-LA). The introduction of LA units that can degrade easily disturbed the crystallinity of the PCL segments; as result, the hydrolysis became accelerated. Also, we studied the temperature dependency of degradation of a series of cross-linked poly(CL-co-LA) materials with different melting points. We found that the degradation of these materials related closely to the crystallinity, which could be controlled by the composition of CL and LA.