Additively Manufactured Nanofiber Reinforced Bioactive Glass Based Functionally Graded Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering

Abstract

In this work, functionally graded scaffolds of nanofiber reinforced bioactive glass have been fabricated using additive manufacturing technique. The bioactive glass was synthesized using sol-gel method. Pluronic F-127 was used as ink carrier for fabricating the scaffolds. The reinforced nanofibers are uniformly dispersed in the bioactive glass matrix. The inclusion of nanofiber showed 94% enhancement in the compressive strength of the fabricated scaffolds demonstrating their potential for bone tissue engineering applications.