Mechanical behavior of a soft hydrogel reinforced with three-dimensional printed microfibre scaffolds.

ABSTRACT: Reinforcing hydrogels with micro-fibre scaffolds obtained by a Melt-Electrospinning Writing (MEW) process has demonstrated great promise for developing tissue engineered (TE) constructs with mechanical properties compatible to native tissues. However, the mechanical performance and reinforcement mechanism of the micro-fibre reinforced hydrogels is not yet fully understood. In this study, FE models, implementing material properties measured experimentally, were used to explore the reinforcement mechanism of fibre-hydrogel composites. First, a continuum FE model based on idealized scaffold geometry was used to capture reinforcement effects related to the suppression of lateral gel expansion by the scaffold, while a second micro-FE model based on micro-CT images of the real construct geometry

SUBMITTER: Castilho M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5775327 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature