Abstract
Owing to its bioactivity and proven biological performance, 45S5 bioactive glass (BG) is considered a convenient choice to fabricate scaffolds for bone tissue engineering applications. However, the brittleness of the material in conjunction with microstructural imperfections can cause catastrophic fracture and thus unreliable mechanical performance. This experimental study probes the fabrication of 45S5 BG struts using mold casting technique and sintering followed by the coating of the fabricated struts with gelatine and polycaprolactone (PCL) to improve the mechanical properties. The mechanical properties of struts were measured using a four-point bending test. The results indicate an improvement in flexural strength of the struts after coating with PCL. The uncoated and gelatin-coated samples exhibited flexural strength of around 20 MPa, which was increased to 55 MPa and 70 MPa after coating with PCL of 14 k and 80 k molecular weight, respectively. Careful evaluation of the test results permits quantifying the flexural strength of struts.
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