Synthesis and properties of biodegradable poly(ester-urethane)s based on poly(ε-caprolactone) and aliphatic diurethane diisocyanate for long-term implant application: Effect of uniform-size hard segment content

AbstractIn this article, a series of medical poly(ester-urethane)s (PEUs) with varying uniform-size hard segment content were prepared via one-step chain extension of poly(e-caprolactone)s with aliphatic urethane diisocyanate, and the corresponding films were obtained by solvent evaporation technique. The chemical structures of polymers were confirmed by 1H NMR, FT-IR and GPC. The effect of uniform-size hard segment content on the physicochemical properties of PEU films, including thermal properties, mechanical properties, crystallization behavior, water-swelling behavior and in vitro degradability, was extensively researched. The PEU films exhibiting similar thermal transition and thermal stability indicated that the uniform-size hard segment content had little effect on the thermal properties. Two obvious glass transition temperatures observed in DSC curves manifested a microphase separation structure, which endowed the PEU films excellent mechanical properties with ultimate stress of 34.6–51.2 MPa and ...