DSC was performed on the initial samples as well as on the 6, 12, and 24 month follow-up explanted samples. The DSC setup consisted of a PerkinElmer
Pyris 1 Differential Scanning Calorimeter (Fremont, CA, USA) and was performed under an inert atmosphere of ultra-high purity N
2. Indium was used for calibration. The 8–11 mg samples were cooled to 0 °C at 300 °C/min, held for 1 min and then heated to 200 °C at 10 °C/min. The glass transition temperature (T
g; onset and midpoint), melting temperature (T
m; onset and midpoint), and melting enthalpy (ΔH
m) were determined using
OriginPro 2019b (OriginLab Corporation, Northampton, MA, USA). The degree of crystallinity was calculated using the following formula [55 (
link)]: where X
c is the degree of crystallinity (%), ΔH
m the determined melting enthalpy of the copolymer (J/g), ΔH* the melting enthalpy of 100% crystalline PLLA (J/g), and Φ
PLLA the weight fraction of LLA segments in the copolymer. The melting enthalpy of 100% crystalline PLLA is 93 J/g [56 ].
Gareb B., van Bakelen N.B., Driessen L., Buma P., Kuipers J., Grijpma D.W., Vissink A., Bos R.R, & van Minnen B. (2022). Biocompatibility and degradation comparisons of four biodegradable copolymeric osteosynthesis systems used in maxillofacial surgery: A goat model with four years follow-up. Bioactive Materials, 17, 439-456.