ABSTRACT Poly(ethylene succinate) (PES), as a biodegradable aliphatic polyester, has excellent biodegradability, good flexibility, and ductility. However, its poor crystallization behavior limits its large‐scale practical applications. In this work, dimethyl oxalate (DMO) was introduced as a third monomer into the polymerization system of succinic anhydride (SAA) and ethylene glycol (EG). While preserving the main chain integrity of PES, a series of PESO X copolymers were synthesized via copolymerization to enhance the crystallization ability of PES. The incorporation of DMO not only significantly improved the crystallization properties of the copolymers but also enhanced their mechanical performance and thermal stability. When the DMO content was 15%, the crystallization temperature of the copolymer increased from 44.0°C to 60.7°C. The yield strength improved from 19.20 ± 0.86 MPa to 25.29 ± 0.79 MPa, and the elongation at break increased from 13.60% ± 0.86% to 28.01% ± 0.69%. The PESO X copolymers synthesized by this method have excellent crystallization and mechanical properties, which improve the production and processing efficiency of PES, reduce industrial energy consumption, and improve economic efficiency.
Wang et al. (Sun,) studied this question.