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Elsevier, European Polymer Journal, (85), p. 431-444, 2016

DOI: 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2016.10.046

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Effect of biodegradation on thermo-mechanical properties and biocompatibility of poly(lactic acid)/graphene nanoplatelets composites

Journal article published in 2016 by Am Pinto ORCID, Carolina Goncalves ORCID, Ic Goncalves ORCID, Fernão D. Magalhães ORCID
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

Two types of graphene nanoplatelets (GNP-M and GNP-C) were incorporated in PLA by melt-blending at 0.25 wt.% loading, and the resulting composites subject to hydrolytic degradation for 6 months in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) at 37 C. The materials were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), size exclusion chromatography (GPC-SEC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), tensile testing, creep recovery testing, and biocompatibility assays. After two months degradation, all materials presented a low decrease in molecular weight (about 10%), while after six months the decrease was higher than 85%. For this degradation time, temperatures of onset of intense thermal degradation decreased by about 10 C for all samples. Both fillers were able to improve the mechanical properties of PLA, and to reduce the decay of its mechanical performance after 6 months biodegradation. Unfilled PLA showed a 10-fold decrease in toughness (AUC) after 6 months degradation, while toughness was only reduced by 3.3 and 1.7-fold, respectively, for the GNP-M and GNP-C composites. In addition, the composites had stable behaviour under cyclic creep-relaxation testing, while PLA exhibited significant cumulative permanent stain and ruptured after only 4 cycles. Comparing with PLA, the GNP-based composites presented similar human foreskin fibroblasts (HFF-1) adhesion and growth at the surface until 72 h, and did not release toxic products after the degradation period.