LAUSR

Textile technology shows great advantages in tissue engineering applications and it is a promising candidate for bone scaffolds fabrication. Composite fibers made from nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA) particles and polycaprolactone (PCL) were prepared by the melt spinning technology. nHA particles with different concentrations (1, 3, 5 and 7 wt%) were loaded into PCL fibers, and their influence on fiber morphological, thermal, mechanical and biological performance was evaluated. Results indicated that nHA particles were homogeneously distributed in PCL fibers. And nHA loading improved the break stress and initial modulus of pure PCL fibers, as well as thermal stability, which was confirmed by thermogravimetric analysis. Mineral deposition was also observed on fibers with nHA loading, which was favorable to bone scaffolds. Tubular meshes made by weft knitting proved the manufacturability of nHA/PCL composite fibers for further scaffold applications.