75 / 2018-07-31 21:07:05

Mophology and mechanical properties of the poly(lactide-co-glycolide) hollow fiber membranes

Dry-jet wet spinning,nerve conduit,Mehcanical properties,Morphology

全体主题 > v. Design of therapeutic products, cellular products, and macromolecular products

The poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA ) hollow fibre membranes (HFMs) has been successfully used for biomedical applications, while the efficacy of the PLGA HFMs are often affected by their porosity and mechanical properties. In this study, the PLGA HFMs were prepared with dry-jet wet spinning method, and different spinning parameters were applied to systematically investigating the effects of the fabrication conditions on the porosity and mechanical properties of the PLGA HFMs. A two-dimensional (2D) diffusion model was developed for polymer/solvent/nonsolvent ternary system to numerically study the polymer distribution. The porosity of the PLGA HFMs shows a significant decrease in the porosity as the dope concentration increases. Also, the dope fluid concentration was found to significantly influence the morphology of PLGA HFMs: the cross-sectional morphology of 5-layered structure with macrovoids varied to 6-layered structure with sponge-like microvoids, when the concentration of dope fluid increased from 14% to 22%. In addition, the mechanical properties of PLGA HFMs, including Young’s modulus and compressive modulus, were found to dramatically increase with the concentration of dope fluid. This study can help to better understand the effects of the different fabrication conditions on the morphology and mechanical properties of the PLGA HFMs.