Design of a powder dispenser for membrane fabrication

Abstract

Tendon adhesion is a significant challenge in the process of proper healing in tendon injury. Many preventive measures, such as surgical intervention, drugs and using a physical barrier, have been adopted to aid the process of healing. While research for surgical intervention and application of drugs still remains inconclusive, using a physical barrier has been proven in providing a safer and more viable option to prevent adhesion formation. One of the ways to create a physical barrier is the usage of a membrane. Due to its slow degradation rate, lower melting point and cheaper cost than the other biomaterials such as polyglycolic acid (PGA) and poly (lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA), Polycaprolactone (PCL) is being used as the most suited biomaterial to fabricate the membrane. A new membrane fabrication method via surface tension melt (STM) is being adopted to fabricate the membrane. Currently, this new fabrication method is still very much a manual process and this leads to the inconsistency in the quality of the membrane produced. Hence, an attempt is made to automate the process to improve the consistency in production in terms of the quality of the membrane.