Key words: polymer foaming, supercritical carbon dioxide, lactide and ε-caprolactone copolymers, mechanical characteristics of porous polymers
A series of lactide and ε-caprolactone copolymers containing 4—24 mol.% of
ε-caprolactone with 20—30 kDa molecular weights is synthesized. Based on them porous
materials are produced by foaming in supercritical carbon dioxide. At increasing
ε-caprolactone content in copolymer the pore size decreases, while the porosity of the
entire sample is not altered. The pore size also decreases if 7% wt. polyethylene glycol
is added to the initial monomer mixture. The Young’s modulus of the porous samples
decreases at increasing ε-caprolactone content and if polyethylene glycol is added.
doi:10.1134/S1990793116080078