BIOMATERIALS SCIENCE, cilt.1, sa.5, ss.503-509, 2013 (SCI-Expanded)
Poly(glycerol-sebacate) (PGS) was introduced a decade ago as a potential material for soft tissue repair. All of the proposed copolymerization reactions in the literature include a two-stage (prepolymerization and curing) synthesis where the reaction times can take as long as several days. This study, on the other hand, proposes a new route that eliminates these disadvantages and enables a rapid synthesis of PGS elastomers via microwave-assisted prepolymerization in minutes instead of days. No purge gas, catalyst or vacuum is needed in the first prepolymerization step. The curing stage was carried out at 150 degrees C for 4, 8, 16, and 24 hours. The glass transition temperature (T-g) and melting temperatures for the glycerol and sebacic acid fragments (T-m1 and T-m2) of these PGS elastomers were found as -35.61 degrees C, -15.82 degrees C, and 61.70 degrees C, respectively. The Young's modulus and tensile strength values were found as 0.50 +/- 0.02 MPa and 0.27 +/- 0.06 MPa, respectively.