Solvent Casting and Melt Molding Techniques for Fabrication of Biomaterials

Biomaterials are receiving tremendous attention, especially in the biomedical field, due to their impressive structural, physiological, and biological properties, such as nontoxicity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Numerous biomaterials have been used to fabricate scaffolds for applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, where they are used as wound dressings, grafts, organs, and substitutes. To date, a number of techniques have been developed for the fabrication of scaffolds from biomaterials. This chapter focuses on the fabrication of scaffolds by solvent casting and melt-casting techniques. It examines the solvent casting and meltcasting techniques in terms of their application in the fabrication of biological scaffolds with tailored micro- and nanostructures for their use in tissue engineering. The merits and limitations of these techniques in fabricating biological scaffolds for desired biomedical applications are also discussed. Finally, various challenges faced by solvent and melt casting techniques are described, and solutions are proposed for future research to develop biomaterials for advanced biomedical applications.