2021, Volume 7, Issue 5
Engineering >> 2021, Volume 7, Issue 5 doi: 10.1016/j.eng.2021.02.009
Degradable Plastics Are Vulnerable to Cracks
a John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
b State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic System, Key Laboratory of Soft Machines and Smart Devices of Zhejiang Province, Department of Engineering Mechanics & Center for X-Mechanics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
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Abstract
A plastic may degrade in response to a trigger. The kinetics of degradation have long been characterized by the loss of weight and strength over time. These methods of gross characterization, however, are misleading when plastic degrades heterogeneously. Here, we study heterogeneous degradation in an extreme form: the growth of a crack under the combined action of chemistry and mechanics. An applied load opens the crack, exposes the crack front to chemical attack, and causes the crack to outrun gross degradation. We studied the crack growth in polylactic acid (PLA), a polyester in which ester bonds break by hydrolysis. We cut a crack in a PLA film using scissors, tore it using an apparatus, and recorded the crack growth using a camera through a microscope. In our testing range, the crack velocity was insensitive to load but was sensitive to humidity and pH. These findings will aid the development of degradable plastics for healthcare and sustainability.
Keywords
Degradation ; Plastics ; Hydrolysis ; pH ; Cracking
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