PFC ETSEIB|IBEC

The aim of the project is to optimize the parameters of a polymer deposition Rapid Prototyping (RP) machine in order to make compatible scaffolds of biodegradable polymers. The polymers used are PLA (PolyLactic Acid dissolved in Chloroform or 1,4-dioxane) and Chitosan (dissolved in Acetic Acid). Both are well known in the field of Tissue Engineering (TE) due to their interesting properties, such as biodegrability and biocompatibility. The RP technique will allow us to easily control the porosity and the interconnectivity of the pores, two very important characteristics for the development of successful scaffolds. However, some improvements must be done in order to obtain real 3D-scaffolds. The modification of several parameters of the deposition of the polymer such as the printing speed, the polymer flow, the height of a single line, the polymer concentration and of course the design of the scaffold, will lead to the fabrication of real 3D-scaffolds. After a presentation of the TE research field, a brief introduction of conventional methods and RP methods will be given. Then we will focus on our polymer deposition machine and the parameters optimized for finally ending on our results obtained with this RP method