Influence of Different Solvents on the Mechanical Properties of Electrospun Scaffolds

This article investigates the influence of different solvents on the mechanical properties of biocompatible and biodegradable polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds. During the research, using electrospinning technology, 27 samples of polycaprolactone nanofibers exposed to different solvents were produced. A tensile test was performed on the produced nanofiber samples, and the nanofiber mechanical properties, yield strength, elastic modulus, and elastic elongation were calculated, and load-displacement and stress-strain dependence diagrams were compared from the obtained results. The strongest nanofiber was singled out, and its mechanical properties were compared with those of biological tissues and its application in tissue engineering. The structure was determined using a scanning electron microscope, and the structures of nanofibers exposed to different solvents were compared. After calculating the influence of different solvents on the mechanical properties of the nanofibers, the strongest structure was identified, PCL and chloroform, which has an elastic modulus of 9.86 MPa and a yield strength of 1.11 ± 0.32 MPa. The type of solvent used in the production of the solution affects the homogeneity of the fibre and the shape of the filaments. In solvents with lower viscosity, the fibre filaments are more homogeneous and more evenly distributed.