Study on mechanical properties of dual-channel cryogenic 3D printing scaffold for mandibular defect repair.

Mandibular defect repair has always been a clinical challenge, facing technical bottleneck. The new materials directly affect technological breakthroughs in mandibular defect repair field. Our aim is to fabricate a scaffold of advanced biomaterials for repairing of small mandibular defect. Therefore, a novel dual-channel scaffold consisting of silk fibroin/collagen type-I/hydroxyapatite (SCH) and polycaprolactone/hydroxyapatite (PCL/HA) was fabricated by cryogenic 3D printing technology with double nozzles. The mechanical properties and behaviors of the dual-channel scaffold were investigated by performing uniaxial compression, creep, stress relaxation, and ratcheting experiments respectively. The experiments indicated that the dual-channel scaffold was typical non-linear viscoelastic consistent with cancellous tissue; the Young's modulus of this scaffold was 60.1 kPa. Finite element analysis (FEA) was employed performing a numerical simulation to evaluate the implantation effect in mandible. The stress distribution of the contact area between scaffold and defect was uniform, the maximum Mises stress of cortical bone and cancellous bone in defect area were 54.520 MPa and 3.196 MPa, and the maximum displacement of cortical bone and cancellous bone in defect area were 0.1575 mm and 0.1555 mm respectively, which distributed in the incisor region. The peak maximum Mises stress experienced by the implanted scaffold was 3.128 × 10-3 MPa, and the maximum displacement was 6.453 × 10-2 mm distributed near incisor area. The displacement distribution of the scaffold was consistent with that of cortical and cancellous bone. The scaffold recovered well when the force applied on it disappeared. Above all, the dual-channel scaffold had excellent bio-mechanical properties in implanting mandible, which provides a new idea for the reconstruction of irregular bone defects in the mandible and has good clinical development prospects.

Biaxial fatigue crack propagation behavior of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene reinforced by carbon nanofibers and hydroxyapatite.

Ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) artificial joint has remained the preferred polymer component in total joint replacement surgery. However, more and more concerns have been raised about the failure of UHMWPE components due to the initiation and propagation of cracks at the notches with fixed functions. For this reason, biaxial fatigue crack growth (FCG) experiments of UHMWPE reinforced by carbon nanofibers (CNF) and hydroxyapatite (HA) were carried out using elastic-plastic fracture mechanics theory. The FCG resistance of UHMWPE, UHMWPE/CNF, and UHMWPE/HA was compared, and the effects of stress ratio (R) value and phase difference on FCG rate were investigated. At the same time, the influence of loading path was considered, and the corresponding crack path was analyzed. Results suggest that UHMWPE/CNF has better FCG resistance and the FCG rate increases with the increase of R value and the existence of 180° phase difference. In addition, crack bifurcation behavior is not observed under nonproportional loading conditions. The findings in this study will provide experimental validation and data support for better clinical application of UHMWPE-modified materials.

Mechanical behavior of a titanium alloy scaffold mimicking trabecular structure.

BACKGROUND: Additively manufactured porous metallic structures have recently received great attention for bone implant applications. The morphological characteristics and mechanical behavior of 3D printed titanium alloy trabecular structure will affect the effects of artificial prosthesis replacement. However, the mechanical behavior of titanium alloy trabecular structure at present clinical usage still is lack of in-depth study from design to manufacture as well as from structure to mechanical function. METHODS: A unit cell of titanium alloy was designed to mimick trabecular structure. The controlled microarchitecture refers to a repeating array of unit-cells, composed of titanium alloy, which make up the scaffold structure. Five kinds of unit cell mimicking trabecular structure with different pore sizes and porosity were obtained by modifying the strut sizes of the cell and scaling the cell as a whole. The titanium alloy trabecular structure was fabricated by 3D printing based on Electron Beam Melting (EBM). The paper characterized the difference between the designs and fabrication of trabecular structures, as well as mechanical properties and the progressive collapse behavior and failure mechanism of the scaffold. RESULTS: The actual porosities of the EBM-produced bone trabeculae are lower than the designed, and the load capacity of a bearing is related to the porosity of the structure. The larger the porosity of the structure, the smaller the stiffness and the worse the load capacity is. The fracture interface of the trabecular structure under compression is at an angle of 45o with respect to the compressive axis direction, which conforms to Tresca yield criterion. The trabeculae-mimicked unit cell is anisotropy. Under quasi-static loading, loading speed has no effect on mechanical performance of bone trabecular specimens. There is no difference of the mechanical performance at various orientations and sites in metallic workspace. The elastic modulus of the scaffold decreases by 96%-93% and strength reduction 96%-91%, compared with titanium alloy dense metals structure. The apparent elastic modulus of the unit-cell-repeated scaffold is 0.39-0.618 GPa, which is close to that of natural bone and stress shielding can be reduced. CONCLUSION: We have systematically studied the structural design, fabrication and mechanical behavior of a 3D printed titanium alloy scaffold mimicking trabecula bone. This study will be benefit of the application of prostheses with proper structures and functions.

Mechanical property and biocompatibility of silk fibroin-collagen type II composite membrane.

Osteoarthritis is caused by injuries and cartilage degeneration. Cartilage tissue engineering provides new ideas for the treatment of osteoarthritis. Herein, the different ratios composite membranes of silk fibroin/collagen type II were constructed (SF50-50:50, SF70-70:30, SF90-90:10). The surface properties of the composite membranes and chondrocyte morphology were observed by SEM (scanning electron microscopy). Physical functionality as well as stability of composite membranes was evaluated from tensile mechanical properties, the percentage of swelling and degradation. The tensile mechanical behavior of SF70 composite membranes was also predicted based on the constitutive model established in this study, and it is found that the experimental results and predictions were in good agreement. Biocompatibility was evaluated using chondrocytes (ADTC-5) culture. Cell proliferation was analyzed and the treatment of live/dead double staining was performed to assess the viability on chondrocytes. To sum up, SF70 showed the suitable morphology, physical stability, and biological functionality to promote proliferation of chondrocytes. This indicates that the mixing ratio of SF70 shows promise in the future as a scaffold material for cartilage repair.

Uniaxial and biaxial ratcheting behavior of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene.

Experimental studies were conducted to investigate the uniaxial and biaxial ratcheting behaviors of Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). The effects of stress amplitude, stress rate and hydroxyapatite content on uniaxial ratcheting behavior were studied firstly. It is found that the ratcheting strain and its rate increase as stress amplitude increases. However, the ratcheting strain and its rate decrease with rising of stress rate. Meanwhile, it is found that the ratcheting strain decreases with increase of hydroxyapatite content. The ratcheting strain rates with different hydroxyapatite contents are not obviously different. The modified ratcheting strain accumulative model was constructed to predict the uniaxial ratcheting behavior of UHMWPE with different stress amplitudes, stress rates and hydroxyapatite contents. It is seen that the predictions agree with the experimental results very well. The effects of different loading paths on biaxial ratcheting behavior of UHMWPE were studied. Both ratcheting strain and ratcheting strain rate are strongly influenced by the loading path. It is found that the uniaxial loading path gives the highest ratcheting strain and its rate while the proportional loading path gives the lowest ratcheting strain and its rate.

Ratcheting behavior of UHMWPE reinforced by carbon nanofibers (CNF) and hydroxyapatite (HA): Experiment and simulation.

Uniaxial tensile tests were performed to investigate the mechanical properties of the ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) with different modification conditions. It was found that the different modification conditions have great influence on the mechanical properties of the UHMWPE. Subsequently, the uniaxial ratcheting behaviors of the UHMWPE/CNF and UHMWPE/HA composite materials were observed under the stress-controlled cyclic tensile condition at room temperature. The dependence of uniaxial ratcheting of composite materials on the mean stress, stress amplitude, stress rate and nano-material content was investigated. The results show that the ratcheting strain and its rate of the two composite materials increase as the mean stress and stress amplitude increase, however, the ratcheting strain and its rate decrease with the increase of the stress rate and nano-material content. Furthermore, it is found that the ratcheting strain of the UHMWPE/HA composite material is more remarkable than that of the UHMWPE/CNF composite material. A new viscoplastic constitutive model is proposed to describe the ratcheting behavior of the UHMWPE composite materials. In this model, a new viscosity function and modified kinematic hardening law were employed. Comparison of simulation and experimental results shows that the simulations are in good agreement with the experimental results.

Strain distribution of repaired articular cartilage defects by tissue engineering under compression loading.

BACKGROUND: It is difficult to repair cartilage damage when cartilage undergoes trauma or degeneration. Cartilage tissue engineering is an ideal treatment method to repair cartilage defects, but at present, there are still some uncertainties to be researched in cartilage tissue engineering including the mechanical properties of the repaired region. METHODS: In this study, using an agarose gel as artificial cartilage implanted into the cartilage defect and gluing the agarose gel to cartilage by using the medical bio-adhesive, the full-thickness and half-thickness defects models of articular cartilage in vitro repaired by tissue engineering were constructed. Strain behaviors of the repaired region were analyzed by the digital correlation technology under 5, 10, 15, and 20% compressive load. RESULTS: The axial normal strain (Ex) perpendicular to the surface of the cartilage and lateral normal strain (Ey) as well as shear strain (Exy) appeared obviously heterogeneous in the repaired region. In the full-defect model, Ex showed depth-dependent strain profiles where maximum Ex occurs at the low middle zone while in the half-defect mode, Ex showed heterogeneous strain profiles where maximum Ex occurs at the near deep zone. Ey and Exy at the interface site of both models present significantly differed from the host cartilage site. Ey and Exy exhibited region-specific change at the host, interface, and artificial cartilage sites in the superficial, middle, and deep zones due to the artificial cartilage implantation. CONCLUSION: Both defect models of cartilage exhibited a heterogeneous strain field due to the engineered cartilage tissue implant. The abnormal strain field can cause the cells within the repaired area to enter complex mechanical states which will affect the restoration of cartilage defects.

In vitro and in vivo degradation and mechanical properties of ZEK100 magnesium alloy coated with alginate, chitosan and mechano-growth factor.

The biocompatibility, ultimate loading capacity and biodegradability of magnesium alloy make it an ideal candidate in biomedical fields. Fabrications of multilayered coatings carrying sodium alginate (ALG), chitosan (CHI) and mechano-growth factor (MGF) on fluoride-pretreated ZEK100 magnesium alloy have been obtained via layer by layer (LBL) to reduce the degradation rate of magnesium alloy in this study. The modified surfaces of ZEK100 substrates were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and CARE EUT-1020 tester. Results reveal that multilayer-coated magnesium alloy can be successfully obtained with smooth surface morphology, and the mechanical properties of coated samples are almost the same as those of uncoated samples. However, the fatigue life of coated ZEK100 is slightly larger than that of uncoated samples after 1 day of immersion. By comparing the degradation of uncoated and multilayer-coated ZEK100 samples in vitro and in vivo, respectively, it is found that the degradation rate of ZEK100 samples can be inhibited by LBL modification on the surface of the sample; and the corrosion rate in vivo is lower than that in vitro, which help solve the rapid degradation problem of magnesium alloy. In terms of the visible symptom of tissues in the left femur medullary cavity and material responses on the surface, multilayer-coated ZEK100 magnesium alloy has a good biocompatibility. These results indicate that multilayer-coated ZEK100 may be a promising material for bone tissue repair.