The effect of synergistic/inhibitory mechanism of terephthalic acid and glycerol on the puncture, tearing, and degradation properties of PBSeT copolyesters

To explore the effect of terephthalic acid/glycerol interaction on the performance of poly (butanediol sebacate—butanediol terephthalate) (PBSeT) copolyesters, the puncture, tearing, and degradation properties of PBSeT copolyesters with different terephthalic acid content and glycerol content 0 ~ 0.1 mol were investigated. The results showed that the puncture and tear strength of the copolyesters were improved with the content of terephthalic acid but first rose and then declined with the increase of glycerol content, which glycerol and terephthalic acid exhibited synergistic mechanism in puncture and tearing performance within a certain range. Compared with LDPE, the optimal puncture and tearing strength of the copolyesters were 1.82 and 2.49 times, respectively. As far as hydrolysis was concerned, a greater weight loss was observed under alkaline conditions than acidic conditions. Moreover, higher terephthalic acid and glycerol content exhibited a synergistic effect to hinder the hydrolysis under alkaline conditions. Surprisingly, the addition of a certain content of glycerol promoted the enzymatic degradation of all copolyesters except for the 0.04 mol content, and the weight loss of enzyme degradation reached the maximum at 0.06 mol content; however, the high terephthalic acid content made the enzyme degradation performance deteriorates. Therefore, inhibitory mechanism in enzymatic degradation was showed by terephthalic acid and glycerol. To sum up, this suggested a potential utility and application prospect in the field of agriculture, packaging, and engineering materials. Graphical abstract Synergistic/inhibitory mechanism of terephthalic acid and glycerol on the puncture, tearing, and degradation properties of PBSeT copolyesters.