On fused filament fabrication of PLA nanofiber reinforced PCL matrix-based smart porous scaffolds.

• Sensing capability of PLA-nanofiber reinforced PCL composite-based smart porous scaffolds for online health monitoring. • Fused filament fabrication parameters for maximizing yield stress. • Simulated return loss , specific absorption ratio, and resonance frequency for PCL and PCL composites. In the past, studies were reported on polycaprolactone (PCL) and polylactic acid (PLA) nanofibers (NF)-based scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. But hitherto, little has been reported on the sensing capability of PLA-NF reinforced PCL composite (PPNC)-based smart porous scaffolds for online health monitoring (OHM) of joint strains/ tendon tears/ contusions/ rhabdomyolysis, etc. In this study, smart porous scaffolds (SPS) were fabricated by fused filament fabrication (FFF) using PPNC for OHM (of joint strains/ tendon tears/ contusions/ rhabdomyolysis, etc.) with tuneable sensing and mechanical properties. The results suggest that FFF parameters, zigzag fill pattern, 0.20 mm layer thickness, and 80 % infill percentage are the best-predicted settings for maximum yield stress (σ ymax) of SPS. Further, a vector network analyzer was used to ascertain the sensing capability of SPS. The resonance frequency (R f) for PCL (virgin) and PPNC with minimum yield stress (σ ymin) and σ ymax were observed as 2.3021, 2.6008, and 2.4315 GHz respectively. The simulated return loss (S 11) , specific absorption ratio (SAR), and R f for PCL (−10.7593 dB, 0.977 W/kg, and 2.6450 GHz), PPNC with σ ymin (−10.5737 dB, 1.437 W/kg and 2.3400 GHz) and PPNC with σ ymax (−10.9429 dB, 1.155 W/kg and 2.5050 GHz) indicate that experimental data is in good co-relation with the observed values. The results are supported by a scanning electron microscope and differential scanning calorimetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]