PolyBioDeg · Structure-properties of melt-spun bioplastic fibers in correlation with their biodegradation behaviour and mechanical performance

Polymeric textile fibers, are one of the main sources of microplastics pollution in the open environment. The European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy acknowledges the need for increased R&D on biodegradable polymers. A key challenge of biodegradable plastics is that the biodegradation rate and material performance (e.g. mechanical and thermal) very often oppose each other. It is therefore difficult to develop products that meet the performance requirements that users expect, and still offer a substantial ecological advantage through fast biodegradation in the open environment. It is of importance to the future health of humanity and the natural world that a well-performing, scalable, and affordable biodegradable textile fiber will be developed. As this is intrinsically difficult, we need more fundamental understanding on how molecular design parameters (e.g. chain stiffness and chain interactions) and physiochemical properties (e.g. crystallization) influence biodegradation behavior on the one hand and fiber spinning and fiber performance on the other hand. The key outcome of the project is a clear understanding of how we can influence the biodegradation of a fiber, whilst having a good spinning process and fiber performance. It is likely that besides understanding, actual novel biosynthetic fibers will be developed in this project. The applicant Dr. Mohammadreza Naeimirad is an expert in melt-spinning of fibers and he is supervised by Bas Krins from Senbis Polymer Innovations B.V. as the host organization, and Prof. Gert-Jan M Gruter from University of Amsterdam (UvA) for the secondment. Senbis provides unique expertise and facilities on melt-spinning and evaluation whereas the UvA does so in the area of synthesis and biodegradation.