Aligned core/shell electrospinning of poly(glycerol sebacate)/poly(L-lactic acid) with tuneable structural and mechanical properties

Bing Xu, Wayne Douglas Cook, Chenghao Zhu, Qizhi Chen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In an earlier study, scaffolds of biodegradable poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS)/poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) core/shell fibres had been fabricated using a core/shell electrospinning method, and the scaffolds were found to have mechanical properties similar to those of natural soft tissues, excellent cytocompatibility and slow degradation rate. In this paper, PGS/PLLA core/shell fibre mats with tuneable degrees of fibre alignment were fabricated using core/shell electrospinning with a rotating fibre collection mandrel. An increase in the rotational speed raised the degree of fibre alignment in the fibre mats. Single and cyclic tensile testing of the mats showed that an increase in the fibre alignment raised the modulus, resilience, ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and elongation up to a maximum at 1000 or 1500 rpm, but the resilience, UTS and elongation decreased when the rotational speed was further raised to 2000 rpm. Nonlinearly elastic biomaterials with a large range of mechanical properties were successfully fabricated using this method and the aligned fibre structure may be capable of guiding the growth of attached cells.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)423 - 429
Number of pages7
JournalPolymer International
Volume65
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2016

Keywords

  • Electrospinning
  • Aligned fibres
  • Core/shell
  • PGS
  • PLLA
  • Mechanical properties

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