A Review on the Recent Research of Polycaprolactone (PCL)

The concept of biodegradable plastics is of considerable interest with respect to solid waste accumulation. Greater efforts have been made in developing degradable biological materials without any environmental pollution to replace the traditional plastics. Among numerous kinds of degradable polymers, polycaprolactone sometimes called PCL, an aliphatic polyester and biocompatible thermoplastic, is currently a most promising and popular material with the brightest development prospect and was considered as the ‘green’ eco friendly material. The application for this biodegradable plastic includes controlled drug releases, tissue engineering, bone scaffolds, packaging and, compost bags etc. This review will provide information on current PCL development, material properties of PCL and its composites, and also its wide spectrum applications.