title: Reinforcing silk scaffolds with silk particles.
abstract: Silk fibroin is a useful protein polymer for biomaterials and tissue engineering. In this work, porogen leached scaffolds prepared from aqueous and HFIP silk solutions were reinforced through the addition of silk particles. This led to about 40 times increase in the specific compressive modulus and the yield strength of HFIP-based scaffolds. This increase in mechanical properties resulted from the high interfacial cohesion between the silk matrix and the reinforcing silk particles, due to partial solubility of the silk particles in HFIP. The porosity of scaffolds was reduced from approximately 90% (control) to approximately 75% for the HFIP systems containing 200% particle reinforcement, while maintaining pore interconnectivity. The presence of the particles slowed the enzymatic degradation of silk scaffolds.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Material and Fibre Innovation, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Rangam
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rajkhowa
authors.forename: Eun Seok
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Gil
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kluge
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Numata
authors.forename: Lijing
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xungai
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Kaplan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D012831:Bombyx; D011232:Chemical Precipitation; D005612:Freeze Drying; D008422:Materials Testing; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D010316:Particle Size; D016062:Porosity; D047011:Silk / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000592:standards; D012995:Solubility
chemical_list: D047011:Silk