The Effect of Tortuosity on Permeability of Porous Scaffold
Akbar Teguh Prakoso,
Hasan Basri,
Dendy Adanta,
Irsyadi Yani,
Muhammad Imam Ammarullah,
Imam Akbar,
Farah Amira Ghazali,
Ardiyansyah Syahrom,
Tunku Kamarul
Affiliations
Akbar Teguh Prakoso
Doctoral Program Study of Engineering Science, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Sriwijaya, Palembang 30139, South Sumatra, Indonesia
Hasan Basri
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Sriwijaya, Indralaya 30662, South Sumatra, Indonesia
Dendy Adanta
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Sriwijaya, Indralaya 30662, South Sumatra, Indonesia
Irsyadi Yani
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Sriwijaya, Indralaya 30662, South Sumatra, Indonesia
Muhammad Imam Ammarullah
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Pasundan University, Bandung 40153, West Java, Indonesia
Imam Akbar
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tridinanti University, Palembang 30129, South Sumatra, Indonesia
Farah Amira Ghazali
Applied Mechanics and Design, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Ardiyansyah Syahrom
Applied Mechanics and Design, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Tunku Kamarul
Tissue Engineering Group, National Orthopaedic Centre of Excellence for Research and Learning (NOCERAL), Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
In designing porous scaffolds, permeability is essential to consider as a function of cell migration and bone tissue regeneration. Good permeability has been achieved by mimicking the complexity of natural cancellous bone. In this study, a porous scaffold was developed according to the morphological indices of cancellous bone (porosity, specific surface area, thickness, and tortuosity). The computational fluid dynamics method analyzes the fluid flow through the scaffold. The permeability values of natural cancellous bone and three types of scaffolds (cubic, octahedron pillar, and Schoen’s gyroid) were compared. The results showed that the permeability of the Negative Schwarz Primitive (NSP) scaffold model was similar to that of natural cancellous bone, which was in the range of 2.0 × 10−11 m2 to 4.0 × 10−10 m2. In addition, it was observed that the tortuosity parameter significantly affected the scaffold’s permeability and shear stress values. The tortuosity value of the NSP scaffold was in the range of 1.5–2.8. Therefore, tortuosity can be manipulated by changing the curvature of the surface scaffold radius to obtain a superior bone tissue engineering construction supporting cell migration and tissue regeneration. This parameter should be considered when making new scaffolds, such as our NSP. Such efforts will produce a scaffold architecturally and functionally close to the natural cancellous bone, as demonstrated in this study.
