Preparation and mechanical properties of PLA-PEG copolymers modified by radiation-induced crosslinking of low energy electron beams

PLA-PEG copolymer is wildly applied in medical and pharmaceutical fields, but its mechanical properties are not so good, such as the tensile intensity and elongation at break. To improve these properties, PLA-PEG copolymers were synthesized and irradiated using low energy electron beams (EB) with various irradiation doses in the presence of 3 wt% polyfunctional monomer (triallylcyanurate, TAC) as crosslinking agent to introduce crosslinking between polymer chains. It was found that with the increase of the irradiation doses, the tensile intensity of the PLA-PEG increased, while the elongation at break decreased, the most optimal irradiation dose was 80 kGy, the tensile intensity was 12.5 MPa and 19.9 MPa, corresponding to the elongation at break of 282.8 % and 28.7% for PLA9-PEG6 and PLA11-PEG6, respectively. Meanwhile, the solvent resistance of crosslinked sample was improved obviously at this dose. The crosslinked PLA-PEG copolymer can be applied to packaging materials, tubes and so on. (Author)