Biodegradability and mechanical properties of poly(butylene succinate) composites with finely dispersed hydrophilic poly(acrylic acid)

Biodegradability and mechanical properties of aliphatic poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) films with finely dispersed hydrophilic poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) were investigated. First, 3.5 wt{\%} of PAA was chemically grafted onto the surface of the PBS films (surface-grafted PBS) by photo grafting polymerization, and then the grafted PAA was homogeneously and finely dispersed into PBS by dissolving the surface-grafted PBS into chloroform before mixing and drying to get solid PAA-dispersed PBS. Degradation of these modified PBS was investigated using gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and tensile testing. According to the GPC results, it was found that the PAA-dispersed PBS had intermediate biodegradability with the intermediate water intake, and the reaction constant of PAA-dispersed PBS was in between those of untreated PBS and surface-grafted PBS, in fact 25{\%} higher and 17{\%} lower, respectively. The experimental results presented that the biodegradability of PBS could be well controlled by the dispersion of PAA, possibly leading to the widespread use of PBS for biodegradable polymers.