Porous Bioactive 3-D Glass Fiber Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering Applications Manufactured by Sintering Technique

In this study novel osteoconductive porous scaffolds were manufactured by sintering bioactive glass fibers with diameter of 100 mm and length of 3 mm. The relative porosity of the scaffolds and size of the pores in structure can be controlled by altering the sintering temperature. By increasing the sintering temperature from 690 °C to 740 °C the relative porosity is decreased from 80 % to 5 % by volume and mean pore size values are decreased from 420 mm to 125 mm. By sintering technique the porosity and pore sizes of the scaffold can be controlled and this enables the manufacture of porous scaffolds with tailor made characteristics.