2024 AIChE Annual Meeting
FTIR Analysis on Solvent-Cast PCL-B-PEO-B-PCL Films
Biocompatible and biodegradable polymers are of interest for a variety of reasons, including their applications in drug delivery. Hydrophilic poly-ethylene oxide (PEO) and hydrophobic poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) are two commonly used semi-crystalline polymers that can be covalently bound in a variety of hierarchical assemblies. The properties of semi-crystalline copolymers are often affected by which polymer segment crystallizes first. Crystallization order is affected by the solvent used to suspend the polymer prior to casting the polymer for its final purpose. Depending on what solvent-solute interactions are more energetically favorable, one block will precipitate out of the suspension as the solvent dries. While previous work has determined how solvents affect diblock PEO-b-PCL chains, other assemblies have not been thoroughly tested. One step towards a better understanding of how PEO and PCL interact is the analysis of a covalently bound tri-block configuration with both polymer types being of similar or equal molecular weight. This research shows that the crystallization of 5k10k5k PCL-b-PEO-b-PCL is affected by the solvent type using FTIR heating and cooling data. These solvent effects remain even after the polymer has been fully melted and allowed to recrystallize.