ABSTRACT Polyglycolic acid (PGA) is a widely used biomaterial with excellent biocompatibility and mechanical properties. However, it suffers from some limitations in fiber preparation. In this work, PGA fibers were prepared via melt centrifugal spinning and modified by blending with poly(butylene succinate‐co‐butylene terephthalate) (PBST). The effects of PBST content, spinning temperature, and rotational speed were systematically investigated and demonstrated to be the crucial parameters to regulate the fibrous property. As a result, the obtained PGA/PBST composite fibrous membranes exhibit a “sea‐island” structure. When the PGA/PBST ratio is 80/20, the spinning temperature is 235°C, and the motor speed is 3000 r/min, the average diameter of the fibrous membranes is 6.55 ± 2 μm, the breaking strength is 2.7 MPa, and the elongation at break reaches 262%. The results of fiber structures and properties indicate that the two components are mixed in the form of physical mixture. However, the properties of the fibers present significant changes with the variation of the component ratios. This study addressed the processability challenges of PGA via melt centrifugal spinning technology, thereby providing a valuable reference for the practical application of the PGA/PBST composite system in the biomedical field.
Zhao et al. (Sun,) studied this question.