Comparative Studies of Electrospinning and Solution Blow Spinning Processes for the Production of Nanofibrous Poly(L-Lactic Acid) Materials for Biomedical Engineering

Comparative statistical analysis of the infiuence of processing parameters, for electrospinning (ES) and solution blow spinning (SBS) processes, on nanofibrous poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) material morphology and average fiber diameter was conducted in order to identify the key processing parameter for tailoring the product properties. Further, a comparative preliminary biocompatibility evaluation was performed. Based on Design of Experiment (DOE) principles, analysis of standard effects of voltage, air pressure, solution feed rate and concentration, on nanofibers average diameter was performed with the Pareto’s charts and the best fitted surface charts. Nanofibers were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The preliminary biocompatibility comparative tests were performed based on SEM microphotographs of CP5 cells cultured on materials derived from ES and SBS. Polymer solution concentration was identified as the key parameter infiuencing morphology and dimensions of nanofibrous mat produced from both techniques. In both cases, when polymer concentration increases the average fiber diameter increase. The preliminary biocompatibility test suggests that nanofibers produced by ES as well as SBS are suitable as the biomedical engineering scaffold material.