Patent ID: 11896741
Assignee: UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A  C  D  H | IPC A  C  D  H

Claim 0:
1. A process for preparing a polarized material comprising the steps of:
a) forming a film or sheet of a polarizable polymeric composition, wherein the polarizable polymeric composition comprises a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) based copolymer;
b) directionally perturbing the film or sheet to induce polarization to form a polarized polymeric composition by at least one of:
(i) subjecting the film or sheet cast from solution to calendar rolling,
(ii) subjecting the film or sheet cast from a solution to melt crystallization under shear or pressure,
(iii) mechanically stretching the film or sheet formed from the polarizable polymeric composition in a gel state,
(iv) freezing the polarizable polymeric composition in a gel state to induce shear by crystallization,
(v) applying shear or pressure during molding of the film or sheet, or
(vi) applying electrical field during molding of the film or sheet from the polarizable polymeric composition in a melt state;
wherein the polarized polymeric composition comprises a β-form of the PHA based copolymer, present in an amount from about 10% to about 99%, as measured by x-ray diffraction.