Deformation and fracture of soft materials for cartilage tissue engineering
type: CreativeWork
description: Damaged cartilage can cause severe pain and restricted mobility, with few long term treatments available. The developing field of tissue engineering offers an alternative to the currently used full joint replacement. Restoring damaged cartilage through tissue engineering would enable an active lifestyle to be recovered and retained, without restrictions to joint mobility. This is increasingly important as the prevalence of osteoarthritis rises. Tissue engineering requires biomaterial scaffolds that mimic the function of the tissue while cells develop, and so the scaffold must provide the appropriate biological, chemical and mechanical stimuli. In this work, methods were developed to enable the design of scaffolds that mimic the microstructure and mechanical properties of articular cartilage. Electrospinning was investigated as a method to mimic the nanoscale collagen fibres within cartilage extracellular matrix. A parametric study was conducted to determine how changes to a gelatin solution affect the mechanical properties of the non-woven fibrous mesh. The solution properties had a clear impact on the morphology of the fibres, but the effect on the mesh mechanical properties was convoluted. The results demonstrated the need for greater understanding of the 3D morphology of electrospun meshes, to establish how these may be altered in order to design scaffolds with desirable mechanical properties. The fracture mechanics of soft materials are complex, and are generally overlooked when designing tissue engineering scaffolds. The complexities have led to a lack of standardised testing, making comparisons between studies impractical. In this work, fracture testing methods were compared, using a viscoelastic polymer to mimic some of the complexities of soft tissue mechanics. Mode III trouser tear tests and mode I pure shear tests were found to provide reliable measurements. Due to the ease of testing small samples, trouser tear testing was concluded to be the most advanta…
abstract: Damaged cartilage can cause severe pain and restricted mobility, with few long term treatments available. The developing field of tissue engineering offers an alternative to the currently used full joint replacement. Restoring damaged cartilage through tissue engineering would enable an active lifestyle to be recovered and retained, without restrictions to joint mobility. This is increasingly important as the prevalence of osteoarthritis rises. Tissue engineering requires biomaterial scaffolds that mimic the function of the tissue while cells develop, and so the scaffold must provide the appropriate biological, chemical and mechanical stimuli. In this work, methods were developed to enable the design of scaffolds that mimic the microstructure and mechanical properties of articular cartilage. Electrospinning was investigated as a method to mimic the nanoscale collagen fibres within cartilage extracellular matrix. A parametric study was conducted to determine how changes to a gelatin solution affect the mechanical properties of the non-woven fibrous mesh. The solution properties had a clear impact on the morphology of the fibres, but the effect on the mesh mechanical properties was convoluted. The results demonstrated the need for greater understanding of the 3D morphology of electrospun meshes, to establish how these may be altered in order to design scaffolds with desirable mechanical properties. The fracture mechanics of soft materials are complex, and are generally overlooked when designing tissue engineering scaffolds. The complexities have led to a lack of standardised testing, making comparisons between studies impractical. In this work, fracture testing methods were compared, using a viscoelastic polymer to mimic some of the complexities of soft tissue mechanics. Mode III trouser tear tests and mode I pure shear tests were found to provide reliable measurements. Due to the ease of testing small samples, trouser tear testing was concluded to be the most advanta…
author: Butcher, Annabel Louise
language: en
keywords: Electrospinning, Fracture mechanics, Fibre-reinforced composites, Hydrogels, Cartilage tissue engineering
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/7c197ab6-8edb-4217-accf-d63b86e89819/download
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2018-07-20
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:06Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.25226