. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Jun 8.

Published in final edited form as: Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2007 Aug 25;59(14):1392–1412. doi: 10.1016/j.addr.2007.04.021

Table 1.

Biodegradable polymers for biomedical applications

Polymer name	Melting point (°C)	Glass transition temperature(°C)	Modulus (Gpa)^a	Degradation time (Month)^b
PGA	225–230	35–40	7.0	6 to 12
L-PLA	173–178	60–65	2.7	>24
D, L-PLA	Amorphous	55–60	1.9	12 to 16
PCL	58–63	(−65)–(−60)	0.4	> 24
PDO	N/A	(−10)–0	1.5	6 to 12
85/15 PLGA	Amorphous	50–55	2.4	5 to 6
75/25 PLGA	Amorphous	50–55	2.0	4 to 5
65/35 PLGA	Amorphous	45–50	2.0	3 to 4
50/50 PLGA	Amorphous	45–50	2.0	1 to 2

tensile or flexural modulus

time to complete mass loss. Rate also depends on geometry.

PGA: poly(glycolide); PLA: poly(lactide); PCL: poly(ε-caprolactone); PDO: poly(dioxanone); PLGA: copolymer of PGA and DL-PLA, ratio is PLA/PGA.