FTIR study of degradation products of aliphatic polyesters-carbon fibres composites

Biodegradable polymer composites based on polylactides and polyglycolides constitute a group of materials characterised by good biocompatibility. They are considered in tissue engineering as scaffolds for cells proliferation and controlled tissue regeneration. Two types of biodegradable polymers possessing different chemical structure, molecular weights and crystallinity degrees and two composite materials made up of them and carbon fibres were analysed in this study. The samples were incubated in aqueous media for 8 weeks and analysed by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in the attenuated total reflection mode (FTIR-ATR). Infrared spectroscopy enabled identification of degradation products and estimation of the influence of carbon fibres on hydrolytic degradation of analysed polymers. Analysis of the infrared spectra showed that hydrolytic degradation process depends on chemical structure, molecular weight and crystallinity of polymers. Catalytic effect of carbon fibres at the initial stage of polymer degradation was observed. Further degradation is dependent on the properties of polymer. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.