Synthesis and Characterization of Functionalized Crosslinkable Poly(e-caprolactone)

A new and rather simple method to obtain randomly crosslinked PCL is reported. PCL was previously functionalized through radical grafting of MA and GMA in the melt, using a Brabender-like apparatus. GMA was added in order to obtain higher grafting efficiency. The structure of PCL-g-MAGMA was elucidated by 1H NMR spectroscopy, and the content of grafted MA was determined by FT-IR spectroscopy. PCL-g-MAGMA was successively crosslinked through reaction with HMDI. The degree of crosslinking was determined by solvent extractions with chloroform. Thermal and dynamic mechanical analysis and tensile tests were performed on plain PCL, on PCL-g-MAGMA and on crosslinked PCL samples.