Abstract
This study demonstrates the utility of camphene as the pore-regulating agent for phase separation-based 3D plotting to produce hierarchical macro/micro-porous poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL)–calcium phosphate (CaP) composite scaffolds, specifically featuring highly microporous surfaces. Unlike conventional particulate porogens, camphene is highly soluble in acetone, the solvent for PCL polymer, but insoluble in coagulation medium (water). In this study, this unique characteristic supported the creation of numerous micropores both within and at the surfaces of PCL and PCL–CaP composite filaments when using high camphene contents (40 and 50 wt%). In addition, the incorporation of the CaP particles into PCL solutions did not deteriorate the formation of microporous structures, and thus hierarchical macro/micro-porous PCL–CaP composite scaffolds could be successfully produced. As the CaP content increased, the in vitro biocompatibility, apatite-forming ability, and mechanical properties (tensile strength, tensile modulus, and compressive modulus) of the PCL–CaP composite scaffolds were substantially improved.
Highlights
Poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) is one of the most widespread biocompatible and biodegradable polymers, since it can have excellent mechanical properties, including high ductility due to its semi-crystalline structure and low glass transition temperature (~Tg = ~ −60 ◦ C) [1,2,3]
The incorporation of the calcium phosphate (CaP) particles into PCL solutions did not deteriorate the formation of microporous structures, and hierarchical macro/micro-porous PCL–CaP composite scaffolds could be successfully produced
Calcium phosphate (CaP) ceramic is used as the reinforcement for enhanced bone regeneration capability and improved mechanical properties [3,5]
Summary
Extrusion-based AM techniques, such as fused deposition modelling (FDM) [13,14,15,16] and the 3D plotting of polymer melts [17,18,19,20,21] and solutions [22,23,24], have been widely applied to the production of porous PCL scaffolds due to their ease of manufacture with inexpensive 3D printers These techniques sequentially deposit PCL filaments extruded through a fine nozzle according to predetermined building paths in a layer-by-layer fashion, allowing the construction of three-dimensionally interconnected pore networks according to a controlled pattern. Several approaches to creating micropores in polymer filaments have been proposed, and can be used to Materials 2019, 12, 2650; doi:10.3390/ma12172650 www.mdpi.com/journal/materials
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