Thermal and mechanical characteristics of poly(L-lactic acid) nanocomposite scaffold

Jong Hoon Lee, Tae Gwan Park, Ho Sik Park, Doo Sung Lee, Young Kwan Lee, Sung Chul Yoon, Jae Do Nam

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

261 Scopus citations

Abstract

Inorganic nanosized silicate nanoplatelets were incorporated into biodegradable poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) for the purpose of tailoring mechanical stiffness of PLLA porous scaffold systems. Increasing the nucleation density around the foreign body surfaces, the montmorillonite (MMT) nanoplatelets modified with dimethyl dihydrogenated tallow ammonium cations decreased the glass transition temperature and the degree of PLLA crystallinity, which seemingly caused the accelerated biodegradation rate of PLLA nanocomposites due to the enhanced segmental mobility of backbone chains and the expanded amorphous region of PLLA matrix. The tensile modulus was increased from 121.2MPa of pristine polymer scaffold to 170.1MPa of MMT/PLLA nanocomposite scaffold (ca. 40% increment) by the addition of small amount of MMT platelets (5.79vol%) acting as a mechanical reinforcement of polymer chains in the nanoscale molecular level. Overall, the nanotechnology used in this study may be applied to various scaffold systems of biodegradable polymers and hard/soft scaffold structures requiring critical control and design characteristics of mechanical stiffness and biodegradation rate.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2773-2778
Number of pages6
JournalBiomaterials
Volume24
Issue number16
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2003
Externally publishedYes

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the Korea Research Foundation (KRF-2001-005-E00006)

Keywords

  • Biodegradation rate
  • Modulus
  • Montmorillonite
  • Nanocomposite
  • PLLA
  • Scaffold

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