Abstract
Injection molded bulk-shape Poly (L-lactide) (PLLA) specimens were hydrolyzed in the phosphate buffered solution and the mechanical properties were evaluated after the hydrolysis tests. In order to evaluated the effect of crystallinity on the hydrolysis, specimens were annealed with 70 and 130°C for 24h. Hydrolysis tests were conducted with soaking the specimens in the phosphate buffered solution (pH 7.4) in an incubator where temperature was kept as 37°C. Vickers hardness was not influenced by hydrolysis until 30 days. Tensile tests results, however, indicated the strength reduction with hydrolysis. From the appearance inspection, whitened regions were observed at the inner of the specimen. These results indicated the bulk erosion with accelerated inside erosion occurred.
