The effect of process variables on the properties of melt-spun poly(lactic acid) fibres for potential use as scaffold ma
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The effect of process variables on the properties of melt-spun poly(lactic acid) fibres for potential use as scaffold matrix materials Maria Persson • Sung-Woo Cho • Mikael Skrifvars
Received: 2 September 2012 / Accepted: 7 November 2012 / Published online: 11 January 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract Biodegradable materials in the form of fibres and yarns have attracted increasing attention due to a large surface area and various geometric possibilities in threedimensional polymeric scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. In this study, poly(lactic acid) fibres were produced by melt spinning and subsequent solid-state drawing in order to serve as matrix materials for fibre-based scaffold architectures. The processing of both monofilament and multifilament fibres as well as draw ratios and temperatures were investigated to analyze the effect of process variables on the properties. Two different polylactides with different molecular weight were studied and characterized in terms of their tensile and thermal properties and morphology. The relevance of fibre formation, solid-state drawing and drawing temperatures was clearly supported by the results, and it was shown that the physical properties, such as crystallinity, mechanical strength and ductility can be controlled largely by the drawing process. The obtained fibres demonstrated great potential to be further processed into biotextiles (woven, knitted, or nonwoven scaffolds) using the textile technologies.
Introduction The past decade has seen increasingly rapid advances in the field of fibres based on synthetic biodegradable polymers. M. Persson S.-W. Cho (&) M. Skrifvars School of Engineering, University of Bora˚s, 501 90 Bora˚s, Sweden e-mail: [email protected] M. Persson Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Oulu, 90014 Oulu, Finland
Large surface area to volume ratio, flexibility and potential to be produced in large quantities are some of the advantages that make fibres potential in many applications. The ability to process fibres into a variety of shapes and sizes and achieve the desired mechanical and biological properties has also provided a breakthrough in the design of scaffolds for tissue engineering [1]. One of the most promising synthetic biodegradable polymers in human biological applications is poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and several investigators have reported PLA fibres prepared by different methods, such as melt spinning [2–11], solution spinning [12–14] and electrospinning [15–19]. In most cases, only one aspect was investigated or the analysis was extremely time-consuming. From an environmental point of view melt spinning is preferable, since fibres can be produced from a solvent-free process that provides a more ecofriendly route. In addition, melt spinning is also claimed to be a more economical route, since there is no need for solvent removal and high throughputs and high take-up speeds can be achieved, as melt spinning is the main commercial method to produce large quantities of fibre in the
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