• Peltola, T.
• Yli-Urpo, A.
• Nousiainen, P.
• Ääritalo, V.
• Areva, S.
• Vehviläinen, Marianna
• Haltia, A. M.
• Jokinen, M.

Abstract

Silica fibres and nonwoven fibre assemblies were prepared from TEOS-derived silica sols using sol-gel method and dry spinning technique. The same sols can be used to prepare different fibre structures and to control the biodegradation. Due to the glassy nature with a low elasticity and a porous 2-5. nm structure, the observed fibres were alone difficult to process by using mechanical methods. In order to avoid that, the nonwoven fibre was further hot-pressed onto one side of the melt-processed poly(LIDL)lactide 70/30 (PLA70) membrane. The aim was to study the in vitro biodegradation (silica release) and bioactivity of the fibre composites. The in vitro bioactivity and dissolution of the fibres were studied in a simulated body fluid. To monitor the surface topography and roughness of the silica fibres, a scanning probe microscopy with a tapping mode atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used. It was shown that it is possible to prepare silica fibre composites, which are able to form calcium phosphate in vitro. The calcium phosphate formation ability could be further guided to one side ofthe composite membrane with the help of pure silica fibres.

Topics

• porous
• impedance spectroscopy
• surface
• atomic force microscopy
• melt
• composite
• elasticity
• Calcium
• bioactivity
• dry spinning