Poly(glycerol sebacate)-Based Polyester–Polyether Copolymers and Their Semi-Interpenetrated Networks with Thermoplastic Poly(ester–ether) Elastomers: Preparation and Properties

Abstract

Poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS), produced from renewable monomers such as sebacic acid and glycerol, has been explored extensively for various biomedical applications. However, relatively less attention has been paid to explore PGS as sustainable materials in applications such as elastomers and rigid plastics, primarily because of serious deficiencies in physical properties of PGS. Here, we present two new approaches for enhancing the properties of PGS; (i) synthesizing block copolymers of PGS with poly(tetramethylene oxide)glycol (PTMO) and (ii) preparing a blend of PGS-b-PTMO with a poly(ester–ether) thermoplastic elastomer. The consequence of molar ratio (hard and soft segments) and Mn of soft segment on tensile properties of the material was investigated. The PGS-b-PTMO with 25:75 mole ratios of hard and soft segments and having a medium Mn soft segment (5350 g mol–1) exhibits an appreciable increase in percentage of elongation that is from 32% for PGS to 737%. Blends of PGS-b-PTMO and a thermoplastic polyester elastomer, Hytrel 3078, form a semi-interpenetrated polymer network, which exhibits increased tensile strength to 2.11 MPa and percentage of elongation to 2574. An elongation of such magnitude is unprecedented in the literature for predominantly aliphatic polyesters and demonstrates that the simple polyester can be tailored for superior performance.