Preparation and Properties of PGCL Fiber for Surgical Absorbable Suture

Abstract

Surgical sutures are among the earliest commercialized medical textile materials, facilitating tissue closure and accelerating wound healing through suturing. Absorbable medical sutures represent a significant advancement in this field. Poly(glycolide-co-ε-caprolactone) (PGCL) is a novel biodegradable polymer with excellent biocompatibility, and the development of PGCL medical fibers is of considerable importance. In this study, PGCL fibers were fabricated via melt spinning, and the effects of draw ratio and drawing temperature on their structure and properties of PGCL fibers were systematically investigated. The results demonstrated that the crystallization behavior and mechanical properties of PGCL fibers were highly dependent on the drawing parameters. Within an appropriate range of drawing temperature, higher drawing temperature and draw ratios contribute to increased crystallinity and enhanced mechanical performance. Specifically, when the as-spun fibers were drawn at 40 ℃ with a draw ratio of 4, the drawn fibers exhibited a crystallinity of 65.77% and a tensile strength of 1.917 cN/dtex, representing increases of 165.4% compared to the as-spun fibers. This work is expected to provide a preliminary guide for the industrial-scale production of the PGCL medical fibers.