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Characterizing the degradation behavior of calcium alginate fibers wound dressings fabricated by needle‐punching process
Author(s) -
Gao Yingjun,
Jin Xiangyu
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.46670
Subject(s) - degradation (telecommunications) , composite number , materials science , calcium alginate , chemical engineering , sodium alginate , swelling , porosity , composite material , calcium , sodium , telecommunications , computer science , engineering , metallurgy
Calcium alginate fibers (CAFs) needle‐punched nonwovens are natural polysaccharide biological dressings. Wound exudates cause salt degradation of CA macromolecules. Herein, degradation process, degradation mechanism, and performance variations of degraded dressings were investigated. The functional group structures changed slightly, while the aggregation structure degraded remarkably. CAF turned into composite containing fiber and sodium alginate (SA) gels, finally degraded to SA gels. The initial degraded dressings maintained stable three‐dimensional (3D) interconnected porous structure. As the degradation and re‐entanglement of CAFs, the dressings changed from volatile composite constituted by degraded CAFs and SA gels to steady foam‐like structure bonded by SA gels with independent pores. Degradation caused significant changes in the interaction between CAFs, altering the stretching and compressing processes of the dressings. SA gels and CAFs formed a stable 3D structure with certain mechanical properties. The bonded SA gels improved the absorption, diffusion, and storage of the wound exudates in the degraded dressings. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135 , 46670.