Properties of photo-cured poly(D,L-lactide) networks

Poly(D,L-lactide) is a degradable polymer with a long\ud history of use in medical applications. It is strong and\ud stiff and degrades over the course of months into lactic\ud acid, a body-own substance. In the field of tissue\ud engineering it is commonly used to fabricate scaffolds.\ud Stereolithography is a high resolution rapid prototyping\ud technique by which designed 3D objects can be built\ud using photo-initiated radical polymerisations. Poly(D,Llactide)\ud (PDLLA) networks can be obtained by photopolymerisation\ud of oligomers functionalised with\ud unsaturated groups.\ud In this work, PDLLA oligomers of varying architectures\ud (arm lengths, numbers of arms) were synthesised and\ud end-functionalised with methacrylate groups. These\ud macromers were photo-crosslinked in solution to yield\ud PDLLA networks of different architectures. The\ud influence of the network architecture on its physical\ud properties was studied