Mechanical characterization of nanofiber composites

TLDR: This chapter is dedicated to understanding and measurement of the mechanical properties of the scaffold developed using different materials, and among the methods available to produce the fibers and hence mats, the technique of electrospinning is found to be much superior.

Abstract: Scientific and technological developments have revolutionized the field of medicine, especially in the field of biomedicine which attempts to replace the diseased organs to enhance the longevity of the human. Though for many decades, surgeons, materials scientist, and Engineers opted for available materials such as polymers, metals, and ceramics for different applications, the failure of these materials with time have resulted in search of a new technology for organ replacements. With the understanding of biological tissues in nanolevel and advancements in nanotechnology have led to the field of tissue engineering which is indeed a revolutionary idea. Both hard tissues such as bone and teeth as well as soft tissues like tendon, cartilage liver, etc., are built up of with nano and micron materials that mimic the natural tissue. The idea of tissue engineering is to provide a right environment for the cells with appropriate biomolecules to grow into natural organ in the area of the defects or lost tissue. The selection of the material for fabrication of the scaffold which serves as a carrier of the cells is the most challenging part in tissue engineering. A scaffold apart from being highly biocompatible also should possess right mechanical properties and degradation behavior to transfer the stress to the surrounding tissues and the cells for their growth. This chapter is dedicated to understanding and measurement of the mechanical properties of the scaffold developed using different materials. Among the methods available to produce the fibers and hence mats, the technique of electrospinning is found to be much superior. This chapter discusses in detail on the fabrication technology and the effect of processing parameters on the properties of scaffold. As the scaffold is very different from conventional materials, there are no standards reported to test the mechanical properties of these materials and hence researchers are attempting various methods to evaluate the properties. The evaluation of mechanical properties of the single and bundle of fibers and mats such as tensile strength, elongation, strain at break, stiffness, nanohardness, and creep properties of natural, synthetic, and natural and synthetic are provided and explained in depth. In future, it is hoped that with the advent of 3D printing patient-specific body parts can be fabricated using the approach of tissue engineering and thus all organs could be successfully replaced, an introduction to this technique is also provided at the end of this chapter.