LTE Scaffo
old Project – P
Protocols: Fib
ber Braiding A
Analysis Materials: 9 meters of electrospu
un Poly(ε‐caprrolactone) naanofibers cut into 33cm segments Fiber braiding clamp (C
Custom made
e aluminum b
blocks on 10”xx10” mount p
plate) Uniaxial roller bearing guide (Custom made alum
minum plates with THK traack rollers) Loadstar iiLoad‐F (50 lb
b) load cell with tension ad
dapter Figure 22: Braiding Clamp Mounteed to Tension Loadstar D
DQ‐1000U USSB interface w
with cable Measurrement Guide.
Loadstar iiLoad softwarre CD Nikon J1 h
high definition digital camera w/ 10‐100 mm lens Vertical Camera Mount (Custom maade mechaniccal track and rotator cuff)
motion analyssis freeware (download fro
om www.kinoovea.org) Kinovea m
Fujitsu Liffebook T Serie
es tablet lapto
op Microsoftt Excel One sheett of plexiglasss (at least 12”” long) Biocompaatible silicone
e epoxy – room
m temperature vulcanizingg (RTV) Figure 1: Load Cell Attachm
ment
Scissors Procedure
es: Braided Scaffold Fabriccation 1. Mount the fibe
M
er braiding claamp to the ro
oller guide (Fiigure 1) 2. Mount the loa
M
d cell to the rroller guide extension wal l (custom‐maade) 3. Fiix the clamp tto the load ce
ell using a win
ng nut and strring such thatt the clamp m
mount is centeered on the load cell (Figure 2) he roller guide
e on a textbo ok, binder, orr block of wood to overcome 4. Prop the load ccell side of th
th
he static frictiion of the rolller system. 5. Open iLoad so
O
ftware and designate an e
excel file for bbraiding tension data outp
put. 6. Clamp the end
ds of three ple
eated fibers (stacked verti cally) betweeen the clamp jaws. 7. Po
osition camera so that fielld of view is p
perpendicularr to the braid axis. 8. Taare the load ccell to compe
ensate for the
e gravitationa l load of the cclamp. 9. Begin video capture and loaad cell data caapture recorddings 10. Braid fibers using an overhaand method ((like braiding hair). ding is finished. 11. Sttop recordinggs when braid
12. Use string to secure the free end of the braid. nip the excess fibers from the free end of the braid (pinch the brraid to securee it) 13. Sn
14. Use string to secure the clamped end of the braid. 15. Unclamp the b
braid and snip
p the three exxcess ends of the fibers. 16. Repeat steps 6
6 through 15 tto produce 9 braided fiberr subunits. 6 through 11, 13, and 14 to
o produce 3 ddouble‐triple helix braids. 17. Repeat steps 6
18. Ke
eep single fib
ber clippings aas controls. Scaffold Sample Preparation: 1. Place one double‐triple helix on a piece of plexiglass. The ends should be secured with string. 2. Tie two strings 2mm apart to divide one braid into 3 ~6cm sections. 3. Follow step 2 to make about 20 more 1cm samples and 3x 2cm samples from the other two braids. 4. Cut the samples with scissors between each double‐string increment. Braid Tension Measurement Analysis 1. Open the iLoad data *.CSV file in Microsoft excel. 2. Use excel to condense noisy load cell data into discreet data points via signal averaging (~20 samples/data point) 3. Compute the mean value and standard deviation of the data points to determine the average tension applied during the entire braiding process. 4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 for each subunit and completed double‐triple helix. Braid Angle Measurement Analysis 1. Open Kinovea software and select a video file from the Explorer tab. 2. Use arrow keys to advance the video frame‐by‐frame to take as many angle measurements as possible. Target frames that immediately follow a twist of two individual strands. 3. For each frame of interest, select the angle measurement tool (green triangle on the quick selection bar under the video frame) and click anywhere on the screen. 4. Using the grab & drag tool (auto‐selected after placing angle) Place the vertex of the angle at the point where the fibers connect (at the clamp or on the braid) and the two analyitical ends where the fibers meet the finger tips. Record the angle measurement with the time on an excel sheet. 5. Compute the mean value and standard deviation of the data points to determine the average braid angle during the entire braiding process using excel.