화학공학소재연구정보센터
Polymer Bulletin, Vol.73, No.7, 2039-2055, 2016
Mechanical properties and biodegradability of porous polyurethanes reinforced with green nanofibers for applications in tissue engineering
New class of green nanostructured biocomposites was designed and synthesized for tissue engineering applications. These newly introduced non-cytotoxic and biodegradable polyurethanes are composed of linear aliphatic hexamethylene diisocyanate and polycaprolactone diol. Porosities of different synthesized biocomposite samples were 70-75 % for non-reinforced matrices, 64-70 % for reinforced with 5 wt% biocellulose nanofiber (BCNF), 59-69 % for 10 wt% of BCNF, and 56-69 % for 15 wt% of BCNF. Compressive strength results showed an increase of 84 % with BCNF reinforcement of 5 wt% and more than twofold increase (increase of 120 %) for 10 wt%. The tensile strength also increased up to almost twofold (115 %) for reinforcement with 5 wt% BCNF and to more than twofolds (143 %) for 10 wt% reinforcement. Higher degrees of reinforcement up to 15 wt% showed a detrimental effect on both properties. Results from biodegradation experiments showed that biocomposite scaffolds exhibited progressive mass loss over 5-week period, which varied according to the composition (ranged from 17 to 29 %), where the loss in mass was higher when soft segment content was higher.