Reproducibility of ZrO2-based freeze casting for biomaterials

Steven E Naleway; Kate C Fickas; Yajur N Maker; Marc A Meyers; Joanna McKittrick

doi:10.1016/j.msec.2015.12.012

Reproducibility of ZrO2-based freeze casting for biomaterials

Mater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl. 2016 Apr 1:61:105-12. doi: 10.1016/j.msec.2015.12.012. Epub 2015 Dec 11.

Authors

Steven E Naleway¹, Kate C Fickas², Yajur N Maker³, Marc A Meyers⁴, Joanna McKittrick⁵

Affiliations

¹ Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. Electronic address: snaleway@eng.ucsd.edu.
² Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University, 321 Richardson Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA. Electronic address: kate.fickas@oregonstate.edu.
³ Department of Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. Electronic address: ymaker@eng.ucsd.edu.
⁴ Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Department of NanoEngineering, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. Electronic address: mameyers@eng.ucsd.edu.
⁵ Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. Electronic address: jmckittrick@eng.ucsd.edu.

PMID: 26838830
DOI: 10.1016/j.msec.2015.12.012

Abstract

The processing technique of freeze casting has been intensely researched for its potential to create porous scaffold and infiltrated composite materials for biomedical implants and structural materials. However, in order for this technique to be employed medically or commercially, it must be able to reliably produce materials in great quantities with similar microstructures and properties. Here we investigate the reproducibility of the freeze casting process by independently fabricating three sets of eight ZrO2-epoxy composite scaffolds with the same processing conditions but varying solid loading (10, 15 and 20 vol.%). Statistical analyses (One-way ANOVA and Tukey's HSD tests) run upon measurements of the microstructural dimensions of these composite scaffold sets show that, while the majority of microstructures are similar, in all cases the composite scaffolds display statistically significant variability. In addition, composite scaffolds where mechanically compressed and statistically analyzed. Similar to the microstructures, almost all of their resultant properties displayed significant variability though most composite scaffolds were similar. These results suggest that additional research to improve control of the freeze casting technique is required before scaffolds and composite scaffolds can reliably be reproduced for commercial or medical applications.

Keywords: Bioinspired; Biomaterial; Freeze casting; Mechanical properties; Reproducibility; Statistical analysis.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Biocompatible Materials / chemistry*
Tissue Scaffolds / chemistry*
Zirconium / chemistry*

Substances

Biocompatible Materials
Zirconium
zirconium oxide