| There has been a considerable growth and development in electrospun nanofibers for research activity, as well as commercial fabrication over the past couple of decades. These continuous nanofibers are solution driven exclusively by an electric field. Numerous studies on electrospun fibrous scaffolds have demonstrated sufficient mechanical properties and support of cell growth for tissue engineering. Despite these substantial achievements, there is still an Edisonian-type procedure to acquire the desired scaffold orientation and mechanical response that mimics the native tissue behavior. In this dissertation, the electrospun scaffolds are fabricated with different fiber orientation---i.e. aligned and patterned (0/90)---by modifying the electrospinning process, specifically electric field and target, over large areas and lengths (30 mm x 30 mm). Mechanical behavior of controlled scaffold parameters at macro/micro- and nanoscale is investigated for an effective tissue replacement. In addition a mechanics of material model is used to predict and capture the fibrous scaffold mechanical response, with desired fiber orientation, fiber volume fraction, and fiber diameter. Finally, the model predictions are compared to the experimental results. |
