The Preparation of Poly(lactic acid) via Chain Linked Hydroxy-Terminated Lactic Acid Prepolymer

Abstract:

In this work, hydroxyl-terminated lactic acid prepolymer was firstly prepared by adding diethylene glycol in the condensation of lactic acid. Molecular weight, acid value and structure of prepolymer were characterized. The results showed that the prepolymer was hydroxyl-terminated with weight average molecular weight (M_W) of 10,000 g/mol. After that, the chain linking polymerization of the prepolymer was carried out in a glass tube at 160 °C for 1 h employing 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate (HMDI) as a chain extender. By varying the hydroxyl/isocyanate ratio, it was found that the OH/NCO ratio of 1:2 seemed to be the most suitable ratio which gave PLA with the maximum M_W of 93,000 g/mol.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volume 410)
• Pages: 337-340
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.410.337
• Online since: November 2011
• Authors: Suek Songprateepkul, Suriyan Rakmae, C. Deeprasertkul, Nitinat Suppakarn, Pranee Chumsamrong
• Keywords: Chain Extender, Condensation Polymerization, Poly(lactic acid) (PLA)

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