Biomaterials Commons^™

Biodegradable Nano-Hybrid Polymer Composite Networks For Regulating Cellular Behavior, Charles Henley Sprague

Masters Theses

Photo-crosslinkable polymeric biomaterials have emerged in the field of biomedical research to promote tissue regeneration. For example, scaffolds that can be crosslinked and hardened in situ have been known to make suitable implant alternatives. Since injectable and photo-crosslinkable biomaterials offer the advantage of being minimally invasive, they have emerged to compete with autografts, a current highly invasive method to repair diseased tissue. A series of novel photo-crosslinkable, injectable, and biodegradable nano-hybrid polymers consisting of poly(ε-caprolactone fumarate) (PCLF) and polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) has been synthesized in our laboratory via polycondensation. To engineer the material properties of the nano-hybrid networks, varied …

Effects Of Compression Processing Parameters And Antioxidants On Molecular Degradation Of Biodegradable Poly-L-Lactide (Plla), Thomas J. Hannan Jr.

Masters Theses

The purpose of this research was to find a combination of poly (L-lactic acid), also known as poly-L-lactide or (PLLA) and antioxidants that would, together, produce a product whose degradation rate would be advantageous for use in biodegradable medical implants. Intrinsic viscosity tests were conducted on compression molded samples of PLLA that were molded at various processing parameters in order to find optimal parameters. The optimal processing parameters were found to be time 10 minutes, temperature 220°C, and pressure 1000 psi.

The molecular weight of PLLA sample was taken while pressure, time, and temperature were varied. As pressure increased, no …