Investigation of influence of internal architecture on mechanical properties of 3D printed scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of internal architecture of 3D printed scaffolds on their mechanical properties. The polycaprolactone scaffolds with four different geometries produced by rapid prototyping were tested in this study. The 3D samples were manufactured with different internal architecture. The scaffolds were plotted using a 330 ym dispensing needle, layer by layer with lay-down pattern of the fibers: 00/450/900, 0P/60°/120°, 00/900/1800 and 00/600/1200 with shifted layers. Scanning electron mic¬roscopy analyses and mechanical properties examinations were performed. The mechanical test showed that the highest Young's modulus was obtained for the samples with 0P/6CP/12CP lay-down pattern, especially after layers shifting. The SEM analyzes didn't show any defects or layers delamination in the scaffolds. All the samples were characterized by appropriate 3D architecture and good layers connections. The obtained results confirmed the hypothesis that scaffolds with 00/60°/120l0 lay-down pattern of the fibers and with shifted layers have the highest mechanically properties of the investigated samples and therefore, show high potential to be used in bone tissue engineering application.