Air jet spray of nylon 6 membrane structures for bone tissue engineering

• 3-D interconnected pores scaffolds of nylon 6(N6) were prepared by air jet spray.
• The scaffold exhibited highly interconnected pores due to the high fabrication rates.
• The change in the chain conformation of N6 due to air jet spinning occurs.

A novel porous nylon 6 (N6) scaffold with high and low porosity was designed using a facile, one-step approach. The scaffold samples were prepared using air jet spray (AJS) to obtain high production rates as an alternative low cost, effective technique with precise thickness control. The present results show that AJS adequately produced interconnected porous networks ranging from micron to submicron scales that were observed using a scanning electron microscope. The effect of AJS on the secondary structure of N6 was examined to identify and quantify conformational changes that occurred due to processing. The mechanical properties of the fabricated samples were tested. The results of tensile tests indicated higher tensile strength of AJS scaffold than that of electrospun scaffold.

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