Characterization of compressive deformation behavior of multi-layer porous composite materials for articular tissue engineering

Regeneration of articular layered tissues consisting of cartilage and cancellous bone has been a critical issue in orthopedics. Tissue engineering technology for such large-scale damaged layered tissue may be developed by using layered scaffold with stem cells. In this study, therefore, a novel multi-layer scaffold consisting of a porous poly (epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) layer for cartilage regeneration and a porous composite layer of poly (L-lactic acid) (PLLA) and hydroxyapatite (HAp) for bone regeneration was developed. The microstructure of the scaffold was characterized by a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM). Compression tests were also performed to understand the stress-strain behavior. FE-SEM observation clearly showed that an interlayer exists between the PCL and the composite layers. The compressive stress-strain relation is characterized by a stepwise behavior including the first and the second steps. The first modulus corresponding to the first step is mainly related to the deformation of the PCL layer; on the other hand, the second modulus is related to both solidified PCL layer and the composite layer and increases with increase of HAp content of the composite layer. It is also found that the classical mechanics theory and three-dimensional finite element model can predict the first modulus reasonably well.