Young Wook Moon

Production of porous Calcium Phosphate (CaP) ceramics with aligned pores using ceramic/camphene-based co-extrusion

BackgroundCalcium phosphate (CaP) ceramics are one of the most valuable biomaterials for uses as the bone scaffold owing to their outstanding biocompatability, bioactivity, and biodegradation nature. In particular, these materials with an open porous structure can stimulate bone ingrowth into their 3-dimensionally interconnected pores. However, the creation of pores in bulk materials would inevitably cause a severe reduction in mechanical properties. Thus, it is a challenge to explore new ways of improving the mechanical properties of porous CaP scaffolds without scarifying their high porosity.ResultsPorous CaP ceramic scaffolds with aligned pores were successfully produced using ceramic/camphene-based co-extrusion. This aligned porous structure allowed for the achievement of high compressive strength when tested parallel to the direction of aligned pores. In addition, the overall porosity and mechanical properties of the aligned porous CaP ceramic scaffolds could be tailored simply by adjusting the initial CaP content in the CaP/camphene slurry. The porous CaP scaffolds showed excellent in vitro biocompatibility, suggesting their potential as the bone scaffold.ConclusionsAligned porous CaP ceramic scaffolds with considerably enhanced mechanical properties and tailorable porosity would find very useful applications as the bone scaffold.

Design and Production of Continuously Gradient Macro/Microporous Calcium Phosphate (CaP) Scaffolds Using Ceramic/Camphene-Based 3D Extrusion

This study proposes a new type of calcium phosphate (CaP) scaffolds with a continuously gradient macro/microporous structure using the ceramic/camphene-based 3D extrusion process. Green filaments with a continuously gradient core/shell structure were successfully produced by extruding a bilayered feedrod comprised of a CaP/camphene mixture lower part and a pure camphene upper part. The extruded filaments were then deposited in a controlled manner to construct triangular prisms, followed by the assembly process for the production of CaP scaffolds with a gradient core/shell structure. In addition, a gradient microporous structure was created by heat-treating the green body at 43 °C to induce the overgrowth of camphene dendrites in the CaP/camphene walls. The produced CaP scaffold showed a highly macroporous structure within its inner core, where the size of macrochannels increased gradually with an increase in the distance from the outer shell, while relatively larger micropores were created in the outer shell.