Issue 18, 2012

A three-dimensional polymer scaffolding material exhibiting a zero Poisson's ratio

Abstract

Poisson's ratio describes the degree to which a material contracts (expands) transversally when axially strained. A material with a zero Poisson's ratio does not transversally deform in response to an axial strain (stretching). In tissue engineering applications, scaffolding having a zero Poisson's ratio (ZPR) may be more suitable for emulating the behavior of native tissues and accommodating and transmitting forces to the host tissue site during wound healing (or tissue regrowth). For example, scaffolding with a zero Poisson's ratio may be beneficial in the engineering of cartilage, ligament, corneal, and brain tissues, which are known to possess Poisson's ratios of nearly zero. Here, we report a 3D biomaterial constructed from polyethylene glycol (PEG) exhibiting in-plane Poisson's ratios of zero for large values of axial strain. We use digital micro-mirror device projection printing (DMD-PP) to create single- and double-layer scaffolds composed of semi-re-entrant pores whose arrangement and deformation mechanisms contribute to the zero Poisson's ratio. Strain experiments prove the zero Poisson's behavior of the scaffolds and that the addition of layers does not change the Poisson's ratio. Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) cultured on biomaterials with zero Poisson's ratio demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing these novel materials for biological applications which require little to no transverse deformations resulting from axial strains. Techniques used in this work allow Poisson's ratio to be both scale-independent and independent of the choice of strut material for strains in the elastic regime, and therefore ZPR behavior can be imparted to a variety of photocurable biomaterials.

Graphical abstract: A three-dimensional polymer scaffolding material exhibiting a zero Poisson's ratio

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
13 Dec 2011
Accepted
01 Feb 2012
First published
19 Mar 2012

Soft Matter, 2012,8, 4946-4951

A three-dimensional polymer scaffolding material exhibiting a zero Poisson's ratio

P. Soman, D. Y. Fozdar, J. W. Lee, A. Phadke, S. Varghese and S. Chen, Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 4946 DOI: 10.1039/C2SM07354D

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