Abstract
It is important to discuss the effect of water absorption about Polybutylene Succinate (PBS), one of Biodegradable plastics. In this study, PBS resin was immersed in pure water at each temperatures, 25, 35 and 50℃ and the change of mechanical properties were discussed. Water absorption rate at each temperatures followed Pick's diffusion law at an early stage. In addition, bending strength and elastic modulus went down because of water absorption. As a result of FT-IR analysis, it was found that hydrolytic degradation was caused by water absorption with passage of immersion time. The strength dropped drastically and the brittle fracture was caused after hydrolytic degradation occurred to some extent. This is because voids were generated within the resin by the degradation and they were leaded to cracks.
