Optimising high porosity 3D scaffold by wet electrospinning

Recently, there has been a significant increase of bone tissue engineering research for elderly as they are more prone to bone defects and damages. Micro fibrous scaffolds can be considered as a possible solution to tackle this problem and facilitate bone regeneration. The major components of bone tissue engineering consist of the scaffold, cells, and growth factors. Formation of thick fiber and optimization of scaffold porosity through the fabrication of a three-dimensional (3D) scaffold can increase the significance it brings to the biomedical field. This project will focus on the formation of 3D microfiber scaffold for bone tissue engineering by wet conventional electrospinning.2D polymer fiber diameter ranging from tens of nanometres to microns can be generated with using the right combination of solution, ambient and process parameters. Poly-caprolactone (PCL) and Poly-(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) have been selected as the polymer solution. PVA will be used to better understand the electrospinning process, While PCL will be used to optimize fiber diameters to understand the different parameters and their influence on fiber properties. With proper control of parameters, thick 3D fiber scaffold with large diameters can be fabricated.Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering