Some Morphological Investigations on an Absorbable Copolyester Biomaterial Based on Glycolic and Lactic Acid

Abstract

Some morphological studies were carried out on a physiologically absorbable copolyester material. While this material has been utilized as a suture material under the trade name of Vicryl^R and possesses the potential for utilization in other biomaterial devices such as controlled drug release matrices, little information is available on its morphological state. Specifically the details of the crystalline morphological textures and their variation with thermal history was the primary topic of interest for this study. A chemical etching methodology was developed for purposes of enhancing structural details of this semicrystalline material. By using a refined hydrolysis procedure, the amorphous phase can be preferentially degraded and removed thereby enhancing the details of the underlying crystalline morphology. The particular work presented here focuses on studies that have utilized specially prepared spherulitic films of this copolymer. The results emphasize structural details of partially spherulitic films as well as totally spherulitic films possessing different thermal histories. In addition, these same chemical etching procedures were used to investigate the uniaxial and biaxially deformation of these spherulitic superstructures. It is suggested that similar methodology might well be utilized for investigating similar hydrolizable polyester biomaterials for purposes of structural investigations.