Fabrication and characterization of hybrid PCL/PEG 3D scaffolds for potential tissue engineering applications

This research aims to fabricate hybrid 3D scaffolds for potential tissue engineering (TE) applications. The 3D scaffolds were fabricated with the hybrid polymeric materials of polycaprolactone (PCL) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) using an in-house built desktop robot based rapid prototyping (DRBRP) system. The fabricated scaffolds were characterized morphologically and mechanically investigating the effects of process parameters such as, extrusion pressure, liquefier temperature and dispensing speed on scaffolds׳ properties. The increase of temperature from 60 °C to 70 °C resulted in increase of filament diameter from 416.7±21.7 μm to 508.0±25.5 μm and thus elastic modulus from 276±1.90 MPa to 293±1.49 MPa. Similarly, the increase of pressure from 5 bars to 7 bars increased the filament diameter from 387.5±18.5 μm to 416.7±21.7 μm and consequently, elastic modulus from 276±1.90 MPa to 293±1.49 MPa. However, the increase in deposition speed from 3 mm/s to 5 mm/s unlikely decreased the filament diameter from 508.3±25.5 μm to 304.6±15.8 μm, and as a result the elastic modulus decreased from 293±2.10 MPA to 275±5.67 MPa. The results evidenced the efficacy of the PCL/PEG hybrid material to be processed into 3D scaffolds via DRBRP system for potential TE applications.