Preparation of Polymer Microparticles through Nonaqueous Suspension Polycondensations. Part II—Effects of Operating Variables on Properties of Poly(butylene succinate)

Abstract

Poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) is a biodegradable polyester that finds many applications in the fields of personal care and cosmetics due to its excellent properties, such as the easy processibility, good thermal resistance, and adequate rates of degradation in aqueous media. For this reason, in the present work PBS microparticles are produced through nonaqueous suspension polycondensations at different operation conditions for the first time. Particularly, the present work investigates the effects of operation variables on particle size and molar mass distributions of the final products. The obtained results indicate that both time and temperature affect the final characteristics of the produced material, although temperature is the most influential variable. Besides, it is shown that particle size distributions are controlled by the rates of particle coalescence, with the increase of average particle diameters with the increase of stirring speed in the analyzed experimental range.