Braids structure design of scaffold ligament based on polylactic acid-polycaprolactone

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) is the most commonly injured knee ligament with more than 250.000 ACLs injured patients yearly. Based on the problems encountered in the manufacture of ligament tissue engineering, the researchers focused on strategies to improve their mechanical properties. Nanofibers can be made into various shapes and sizes to improve their mechanical properties, one of which is using the braiding method. In this study, we synthesized an electrospun nanofiber scaffold based on polylactic acid - polycaprolactone (PLA-PCL) which are variations of braided 3, 4, and 6 with braid angles of 60° and 80°. The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of the braid structure on the tensile test and degradation test. The best results of Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) and Young's modulus were on the 6 braid samples and the 60° angle variation. The braiding method with a smaller angle and a higher number of braided bundles can increase the UTS value because the structures are more closely related so they will bind to each other when a tensile force is applied. Meanwhile, the longest degraded sample for the degradation test was 4 braids and a 60° angle for 15 weeks. PLA-PCL material has met the mechanical strength requirements to become an artificial ligament, but mechanical quality improvement can be done by increasing the variation of the braiding angle and the amount of braiding on the structure.