Accelerated ageing and lifetime prediction of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) in distilled water

Morgan Deroiné (1) , Antoine Le Duigou (1) , Yves-Marie Corre (1) , Pierre Yves Le Gac (2) , Peter Davies (2) , Guy César (3) , Stéphane Bruzaud (1)

1 LIMATB - Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Matériaux de Bretagne
2 IFREMER - Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer
3 SERPBIO Services Etudes Recherches Polymères Biodégradables

Accelerated ageing was performed in distilled water at different temperatures (25, 30, 40 and 50°C) on poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV), which is a biodegradable biopolymer, in order to estimate its lifetime in aqueous environment. In a first part, degradation mechanisms were followed by gravimetry, tensile tests and steric exclusion chromatography. Both immersion and relative humidity have been examined. In a second part, the strain at break was used as an indicator for lifetime prediction with an Arrhenius extrapolation. The study revealed the presence of only one irreversible degradation mechanism, i.e. hydrolytic degradation, which is temperature dependant. So, within the approach assumptions, the lifetime in distilled water of PHBV following Arrhenius behaviour can be predicted.

Mots clés: Hydrothermal degradation; Lifetime prediction; Accelerated ageing; Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate)

Domaines: Polymères; Matériaux

Morgan Deroiné, Antoine Le Duigou, Yves-Marie Corre, Pierre Yves Le Gac, Peter Davies, et al.. Accelerated ageing and lifetime prediction of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) in distilled water. Polymer Testing, 2014, 39, pp.70-78. ⟨10.1016/j.polymertesting.2014.07.018⟩. ⟨hal-01113114⟩