| abstract |
PURPOSE: A reticulate material that is produced by crosslinking a net-work of a polymer mainly composed of poly-ε-caprolactone, thus being suitably used as fixing material for plaster casts, because the network is not deformed even near the melting point of the polycaprolactone but easily softens at low temperature. n CONSTITUTION: The objective reticulate material is composed of a polymer mainly consisting of poly-ε-caprolactone and crosslinked. The poly-ε-caprolactone has number-average molecular weight of 5,000W200,000, preferably of 10,000W100,000. A combination of extrusion into cylindrical networks with crosslinking by irradiation with UV or EB is advantageous. The above-stated polymer is obtained by the polymerization of ε-caprolactone in the presence of a catalyst at 120W220°C for a few hours by using a compound bearing hydroxyls on its both terminals such as polyethylene glycol of more than 300 molecular weight as a polymerization initiator. n COPYRIGHT: (C)1984,JPO&Japio |