Biodegradation rate trends with polyesters

A common question I receive about PolySciTech (www.polyscitech.com) polymers is biodegradation rate. The rate of degradation varies widely and depends on several factors including hydrophobicity, crystallinity, and steric hindrance. These factors are broken down and discussed on one of our technical help-pages here (www.lazypolymer.com). For our linear polyesters the general trend is the fastest degradation occurs with lowest molecular weight and highest glycolide content. The schematic shown here details the biodegradation trends and gives estimated degradation times for several of our products as they are organized on (https://akinainc.com/polyscitech/products/polyvivo/polyesters.php).