PREPARATION AND PROPERTIES OF POLY (LACTIC ACID-CO-GLYCOL TEREPHTHALIC ACID) COPOLYESTER

To obtain a kind of biodegradable polymer material with satisfactory properties, a new biodegradable copolyester poly(lactic acid-co-glycol terephthalate) (PETA), was synthesized from three monomers of lactic acid, glycol and terephthalic acid. The resulting copolyesters, PETA, were characterized by FT-IR, 1H-NMR, DSC, TGA and by the ways of weight loss rate to characterize their biodegradability. The findings in this work indicated that, the TmS and TdS of copolyesters PETA increased with increasing contents of the terephthalic acid units. From the biodegradation tests in natural soil, boiling water, acid buffer solution and alkali buffer solution, it was shown that the biodegradability of copolyesters PETA decreased with increasing contents of the terephthalic acid units.