Applications of Poly lactic Acid

Lunt I Large-scale production, properties and commercial applications of poly lactic acid polymers, Polym. Deg. Stab. 59 (1998) 145. 

Special mention must be made of poly(lactic acid), a biodegradable/bio-resorbable polyester, obtained from renewable resources through fermentation of com starch sugar. This polymer can compete with conventional thermoplastics such as PET for conventional textile fibers or engineering plastics applications. Hie first Dow-Cargill PLA manufacturing facility is scheduled to produce up to 140,000 tons of Nature Works PLA per year beginning in 200245 at an estimated price close to that of other thermoplastic resins U.S. l/kg.46 Other plants are planned to be built in the near future.45... 

Based on these studies, it is obvious that poly(N-acylhydroxy-proline esters) are very slowly degrading polymers. These materials may therefore be useful for long-term applications, such as implantable, multiyear contraceptive formulations. For such applications the degradation rates of poly (lactic acid)/poly (glycolic acid) devices would probably be too rapid. 

Early reports of the biomedical use of poly(lactic acid) date back to the 1960s [3, 175]. Since then, PLA has gained widespread application in the medical field, for use in sutures [8], drug delivery devices [15, 17, 24, 59-90], prosthetics, scaffolds, vascular grafts, and bone screws, pins and plates for temporary internal fracture fixation [10-13]. Good mechanical properties and the fact that it de-... 

Liu, L. S., Finkenstadt, V. L., Liu, C.-K., Jin, T. Z., Fishman, M. L., Hicks, K. B. 2007a.. Preparation of Poly(Lactic acid) and Pectin Composite Films for Application in Antimicrobial Packaging. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, in press. 

Albertsson, A.-C., Varma, I.K., Lochab, B. et al. (2010) Design and synthesis of different types of poly(lactic acid), in Poly(Lactic Acid) Synthesis, Structures, Properties, Processing, and Applications (Wiley Series on Polymer Engineering and Technology) (eds R. Auras, L.-T. Lim, S.E.M. Selke and H. Tsuji), John WUey Sons, Inc., NJ, pp. 43-58. 

Abstract Lactic acid occurs widely in nature and is produced by many life forms from bacteria to human cells. Identified in 1780 as a component of sour milk, it has been used in food, drink, pharmacentical, cosmetics, chemical and electronic industries in different forms, such as free acid (typically 80-92% in water), salts (e.g., calcium lactate), and esters (e.g., ethyl lactate). If one calculates the amount of its derivatives back to the equivalent amount of original lactic acid, the total global market volume in 2008 is estimated at around 260,000 tons of lactic acid (calculated at 100% concentration) for traditional applications [excluding poly(lactic acid)... 

Ljungberg N, Andersson T, Wesslen B (2003) Film extrusion and film weldability of poly(lactic acid) plasticized with triacetine and tiibutyl citrate. J Appl Polym Sci 88 3239-3247 Lunt J (1998) Large-scale production, properties and commercial applications of polylactic acid... 

Perale, G., Pertici, G., Giordano, C., Daniele, F., Masi, M. Maccagnan, S. 2008. Non-degradative microextrusion of resorbable polyesters for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications The cases of poly-lactic-acid and poly-caprolactone. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 108, 1591-1595. 

Dev A, Binulal NS, Anitha A, Nair SV, Furuike T, Tamura H, Jayakumar R. Preparation of poly(lactic acid)/chitosan nanoparticles for anti-HIV drug delivery applications. Carbohydr Polym. 2010 80(3) 833-8. 

Another way of generating biopolymers is the fermentation of starch, sugar and other commodities by various microorganisms. Typical examples are poly(hydroxyalkanoates) (especially poly(hydroxybuty-rate) (PHB)) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA). Due to the chirality of lactic acid (D- L-form), two distinct forms of poly(lactic acid) exist (poly(L-lactic acid) and poly(D-lactic acid)). PLA is used, e.g. in biomedical application (sutures, stents, drug-delivery, preparation of bioplastic), in agriculture (mulch-film), packaging, and in blends with synthetic polymers. 

Phosphorus-Based Polymers From Synthesis to Applications 12 Poly(lactic acid) Science and Technology Processing, Properties, Additives and Applications 13 Cationic Polymers in Regenerative Medicine 14 Electrospinning Principles, Practice and Possibilities 15 Glycopolymer Code Synthesis of Glycopolymers and their Applications... 

Poly(a-ester)s, the most expansively studied class of biodegradable polymer, contain aliphatic ester linkages in their backbone which can be cleaved hydrolytically. It is reported that mere aliphatic polyesters with practically small aliphatic chains between ester bonds can decompose over the time needed for the majority of the biomedical applications. Poly(a-ester)s demonstrate enormous diversity and synthetic flexibility and, depending on the monomeric units, can be synthesized from a variety of monomers via condensation polymerization and ring-opening routes [19]. Poly(glycolic acid) and the stereoisomers of poly(lactic acid) are the most expansively investigated poly(a-ester)s polymers. 

Tang H, Chen J-B, Wang Y, Xu J-Z, Hsiao BS, Zhong G-J, Li Z-M (2012) Shear flow and carbon nanotubes syneigistically induced nonisothermal crystallization of poly (lactic acid) and its application in injection molding. Biomacromolecules 13(11) 3858—3867... 

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