You may often hear about biodegradable materials, and you will also notice that it is because people are eager to find a way to solve plastic pollution, and biodegradable materials seem to be a way that everyone recognizes. But from the past to the present, what exactly are biodegradable materials? How can this material and its products provide some help in solving plastic pollution? Today, Diantang Environmental Protection Technology will take you to understand degradable materials.

      By definition, a real biodegradable material is a polymer material that can undergo chemical, biological or physical degradation or enzymatic hydrolysis under the action of microorganisms that exist in nature such as bacteria, fungi, and algae. The most ideal biodegradable biomaterial is obtained from renewable resources. After degradation, it can be reused by organisms. The products are preferably carbon dioxide and water, so that the production and use of this material can be incorporated into the natural cycle.

      Generally speaking, the method for judging whether it is a biodegradable material is: under composting conditions, through the action of microorganisms, it is completely converted into small molecules such as carbon dioxide and water within 180 days. This 180 days is artificially stipulated, why is it half a year? Because after actual use, it needs to be processed together with food waste. Too much time is more difficult to deal with, so this rule is made. In fact, the compost degradation time will be different depending on the thickness of the material. If it is a film, it can be completely degraded in 30 to 50 days. If it is made into a thicker product, it may take 180 days, or even not enough. 

       Due to the complexity of studying biodegradation and the difficulty of designing experimental schemes, most of the experiments are carried out using in vitro methods. On this basis, in vivo studies are considered based on the results of in vitro studies. Animal protection should be considered during in vivo studies (see ISO10993-2). There are simple and complex methods for evaluating the degradation of materials and medical devices by in vitro methods, such as the materials immersed in 0.9% saline at 37±1℃72h, 50℃±2℃72h, 70℃±2 ℃24h, 121℃±2℃1h, more complicated, such as immersing in a solution containing enzymes, phosphate esters, etc. to observe the degradation of materials.