抄録
Porous scaffolds play important roles in tissue engineering. Biodegradable synthetic polymers such as poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) are frequently used in the preparation of porous scaffolds. In this study, a reinforcing composite scaffold was fabricated using the freeze-drying technique by embedding porous PCL core within collagen shell. Controls of pure collagen and PCL scaffolds were also investigated for comparison in this study. Microstructure and mechanical properties of the scaffolds were investigated and related to their morphologies examined by SEM. Fracture micromechanism under tension was also characterized on the basis of microstructural deformation behavior. It was found that the composite scaffold possessed an appropriate mechanical property, which was greater than that of pure collagen scaffold. This study demonstrated that the reinforcing technique could modulate the mechanical properties and porous structure of the composite scaffold, which could be potential factors in ligament tissue engineering.
