The Effect of Physical State of Thymol on the Duration of Its Release from the Mixture with a Semicrystalline Polymer: Thermodynamic Aspects and Kinetics of the Process

— Kinetics of thymol release from 500 μm thick poly(ethylene oxide) and low-density polyethylene, in which thymol is in one of the possible states (fine dispersion of droplets, fine dispersion of crystals, or solution in the amorphous regions of semicrystalline polymer) has been studied. The experim...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polymer science. Series A, Chemistry, physics Vol. 64; no. 1; pp. 10 - 18
Main Authors: Basko, A. V., Lebedeva, T. N., Yurov, M. Yu, Pochivalov, K. V.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01-02-2022
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Summary:— Kinetics of thymol release from 500 μm thick poly(ethylene oxide) and low-density polyethylene, in which thymol is in one of the possible states (fine dispersion of droplets, fine dispersion of crystals, or solution in the amorphous regions of semicrystalline polymer) has been studied. The experiments by means of gravimetry have revealed that the release of thymol in these states has been complete within 120, 240, and 780 h, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy data have demonstrated that initially monolithic poly(ethylene oxide) film has turned porous during thymol release, in contrast to the polyethylene film, which has been initially porous and has become monolithic. The reasons of the marked behavior have been discussed in view of the poly(ethylene oxide)–thymol and low-density polyethylene–thymol state diagrams, the former one being obtained for the first time using an optical method. The obtained results have demonstrated the importance of the physical state of the active component during its controlled release from the semicrystalline polymer matrix.
ISSN:0965-545X
1555-6107
DOI:10.1134/S0965545X22010011