PLA-PCL nanofibers-based porous structures

In biomedical applications, scaffolds should have controlled dimensional accuracy, especially for tissue engineering applications. In general, additive manufacturing (AM) processes are capable enough to manufacture porous scaffolds/implants with controlled dimensions. Some limited studies have been less reported on the dimensional analysis of porous polylactic acid (PLA)-polycaprolactone (PCL)-based nanofibers composite structures prepared by 3D printing. In this study, the nano-porous composite parts were manufactured by fused filament fabrication (FFF) based AM process using sandwiched nanofiber materials. In the first stage, the PLA nanofibers were fabricated using an electrospinning process (for the formation of a nanoporous PLA nanofibers mat). In the next stage, the sandwiching of PLA nanofibers mats was incorporated in the additive layers of the PCL to prepare the nano-porous structures. Finally, the dimensional analysis was performed on the PLA-PCL structures prepared by 3D printing. The results have confirmed that process capability indices (Cp and Cpk) are more than 1 based on dimensional analysis along X, Y, and Z-axis.