Investigation on the thermo-mechanical properties and thermal stability of polylactic acid tissue engineering scaffold material

• Published in: Journal of thermal analysis and calorimetry Vol. 113; no. 3; pp. 1113 - 1121
• Main Authors: Wang, Fang, Guo, GePu, Ma, QingYu, Gu, MinFeng, Wu, XuYing, Sheng, Shenjun, Wang, Xiaoshu
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.09.2013; Springer
• Subjects: Analysis; Analytical Chemistry; Applied sciences; Biological and medical sciences; Biopolymers; Calorimetry; Cellular; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Exact sciences and technology; Forms of application and semi-finished materials; Inorganic Chemistry; Investigations; Measurement Science and Instrumentation; Mechanical properties; Medical sciences; Physical Chemistry; Polymer industry, paints, wood; Polymer Sciences; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Technology of polymers; Technology. Biomaterials. Equipments; Tissue engineering; Decomposition kinetics; Tissue engineering scaffold material; Thermal analysis; Solid foaming; Polylactic acid; Scanning electron microscopy; Tissue engineering; Thermomechanical properties; Cellular plastic; Thermal stability; Surface structure; Lactic acid polymer; Morphology; Biomaterial; Matrices; Kinetics; Plastics; Thermal degradation
• ISSN: 1388-6150; 1572-8943
• DOI: 10.1007/s10973-013-3221-1

Thermogravimetric analysis and dynamic mechanical analysis were combined with scanning electron microscopy to analyze the thermo-mechanical properties and thermal stability of polylactic acid (PLA) foams fabricated using a solvent-free solid-state gas foaming method. The dependence of decomposition time and the lifetime on the PLA cell size was evaluated based on the thermal decomposition kinetic analyses. The results show that PLA specimens with larger cell sizes can be made at lower saturation gas pressures, which will ensure that the fabricated PLA foams have a shorter decomposition time, better flexibility, and are more satisfactory for medical requirements of tissue engineering scaffold (TES) material. The current work may help to optimize the PLA foaming parameters and precisely design PLA foams with different decomposition times according to specific TES requirements of different organ structures.