PCL infiltration into a BCP Scaffold Strut to improve the mechanical strength while retaining other properties

Kim, Min-Sung, Kim, Y.-H., Park, Ih-Ho, Min, Young-Ki, Seo, Hyung-Seok and Lee, Byong-Taek (2010) PCL infiltration into a BCP Scaffold Strut to improve the mechanical strength while retaining other properties. Korean Journal of Materials Research, 20 (6), 331-337. (doi:10.3740/MRSK.2010.20.6.331).

Abstract

A highly porous Biphasic Calcium Phosphate (BCP) scaffold was fabricated by the sponge replica method with a microwave sintering technique. The BCP scaffold had interconnected pores ranging from 80μm to 1000μm, which were similar to natural cancellous bone. To enhance the mechanical properties of the porous scaffold, infiltration of polycaprolactone (PCL) was employed. The microstructure of the BCP scaffold was optimized using various volume percentages of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) for the infiltration process. PCL successfully infiltrated into the hollow space of the strut formed after the removal of the polymer sponge throughout the degassing and high pressure steps. The microstructure and material properties of the BCP scaffold (i.e., pore size, morphology of infiltrated and coated PCL, compressive strength, and porosity) were evaluated. When a 30 vol% of PMMA was used, the PCL-BCP scaffold showed the highest compressive strength. The compressive strength values of the BCP and PCL-BCP scaffolds were approximately 1.3 and 2MPa, respectively. After the PCL infiltration process, the porosity of the PCL-BCP scaffold decreased slightly to 86%, whereas that of the BCP scaffold was 86%. The number of pores in the 10μm to 20μm rage, which represent the pore channel inside of the strut, significantly decreased. The in-vitro study confirmed that the PCL-infiltrated BCP scaffold showed comparable cell viability without any cytotoxic behavior

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Contributors

Author: Y.-H. Kim

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