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Updated: Jun 9, 2026
Fabricating Superhydrophobic Polymeric Materials for Biomedical Applications
Published on: August 28, 2015
The effect of spin finishes on hydrolysis rates of medical grade polyester
1Department of Textile Industries, University of Leeds, Leeds - England.
Purpose:
The rate of alkaline hydrolysis of medical grade poly(ethylene terephthalate) of grey, scoured, and solvent extracted samples have been studied to understand their degradation behavior during surface modification which is used to produce antithrombus grafts.
Methods:
The changes in properties were examined using weight loss, mechanical properties loss and infrared spectrum.
Results:
It was found that the rate of hydrolysis of grey sample was always slower than the scoured, and solvent extracted samples. The slower rate of degradation of the grey polyester is attributed to the presence of spin finishes in the polyester biomaterials. Further, different scouring methods also gave samples with varying rates of hydrolysis. This is due to the different spin finish removal efficiency of different scouring procedures. The weight loss (%) of the solvent extracted samples were the largest which demonstrated that the solvent extraction technique is perhaps the best to remove spin finish from the polyester.
Conclusions:
Thus, these results serve as foundation for polyester biomaterials which are hydrolyzed before implantation in order to improve the protein binding capabilities to minimize thrombosis.
