Modeling of polymer erosion

Abstract

The erosion of bioerodible polymers depends on many factors including the polymer chain length, bond cleavage velocity, swellability, crystallinity, and water diffusivity in the polymer matrix. This multitude of parameters makes modeling of erosion difficult. Only a few models exist that describe morphological changes of polymers during erosion qualitatively. In the present approach the polymer matrix was represented as the sum of small individual polymer matrix parts. The factors that determine erosion were combined, and the erosion of each matrix piece was regarded as a random event. Once such a matrix piece had come into contact with water, an individual life expectation was assigned to it using Monte Carlo techniques. The proposed model can describe complicated phenomena such as changes in polymer matrix microstructure, movement of erosion fronts, creation of pores, and weight loss during erosion, yet it is simple and easy to use. For quantitative evaluations the model was fit to experimental data for weight loss and erosion front movement. The so obtained model constants proved to be useful for the prediction of independent parameters like the porosity of polymer matrices during erosion. This modeling approach may help broaden the understanding of the role of polymer erosion when considering bioerodible polymers in applications such as controlled drug delivery or tissue engineering.

Mechanical study of PLA–PCL fibers during in vitro degradation

“…The parameters in such a model require extensive experimentation. Modern numerical techniques have been used (Göpferich and Langer, 1993;Wang et al, 2008;Yu et al, 2008;Han and Pan, 2009;Bikiaris et al, 2007;Metzmacher et al, 2007) to solve the corresponding equations for devices of both simple and complicated geometries, in the context of drug release devices. However, none of these models were able to predict the mechanical properties evolution of the device.…”

Biodegradable polymers from monomers based on vegetable oils

“…For ideal surface erosion, the degradation occurs from the exterior surface. The total erosion time can be altered by the material shape [98][99][100].…”

4D Numerical Analysis of Scaffolds: A New Approach

“…The parameters in such a model require extensive experimentation. Numerical techniques have been used (Göpferich and Langer 1993;Wang et al 2008;Yu et al 2008;Han and Pan 2009;Bikiaris et al 2007;Metzmacher et al 2007) to solve the corresponding equations for devices of both simple and complicated geometries, in the context of drug release systems. However, these models did not account for the mechanical properties degradation of these devices.…”