American Journal of Biomedical Engineering 2016, 6(1): 19-24

DOI: 10.5923/j.ajbe.20160601.03

Novel Twin Screw Co-Extrusion-Electrospinning

Apparatus
Raúl Montiel1,*, Rosalba Patiño-Herrera2, J. A. Gonzalez-Calderón3, Elías Pérez4

1
Área de Polímeros, Depto. de Física, DCBI, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Vicentina, México
2
Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Instituto Tecnológico de Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico
3
Departamento de Ingeniería Ambiental, Instituto Tecnológico de Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico
4
Instituto de Física, UASLP, San Luis Potosí, México

Abstract The present work presents the design and construction of a device that allows for the continuous processing of a
scaffold based on three interconnected steps: 1) melting for extrusion; 2) electrospinning for achieving nanoscale fibers and
finally 3) exposure to UV radiation for reaching proper fiber crosslinking. All necessary for fabricating crosslinked networks
or meshes with important applications in biomedicine. The suggested design, based on twin screw extrusion, meets the
conventional methods of plastic extrusion at different temperatures and different loading and feeding speeds. This novel
design includes a secondary feed port to incorporate other plastics, additives, or plasticizers. Therefore, it can be used like a
co-extruder. In addition, by applying high voltage to the isolated output capillary, the device can act as an electro-spinning
machine. This allows for obtaining a graduated ´layer by layer´ scaffolding generation, including phase separation during the
melting process, which permits the production of scaffolds of a wide range of compositions, porosity and mechanical
properties.
Keywords Design, Twin screw extrusion, Electrospinning

subject to pressure.
1. Introduction
Twin extruders, produce a thrust much greater that of a
single screw, providing higher accelerations as well as shear
stress of greater intensity. Twin screw extruders may be
found rotating in the same direction (co-rotating), and in
(a)
opposite directions (counter-rotating). According to the
thrust or flow, the twin screw extruders are counter-rotating
when the flight depth of first one does not penetrate into the
corresponding flight depths of the second one, see Figure
1(a), and have little dependence on the viscosity of the load,
Figure 1(b). In this type of extruder, the materials tend to
move the screws towards the barrel wall and therefore cannot
(b)
generate speeds high enough to be adequately mixed.
In turn, extruders with interpenetrated flight depths are
able to co-rotate, in this arrangement the flow depend
primarily on viscosity, but the screws are not pushed into the (c)
barrel walls. Therefore it is possible to generate high speeds,
and since the material alternat between the screws, a better
and homogeneous mixing can be obtained. The performance
of an extruder can be obtainedby applying the laws of (d)
conservation of mass and energy according to the equations
of motion describing the physical state of a moving fluid
Figure 1. (a) twin screw parameters, (b) counter-rotating, (c) co-rotating
* Corresponding author: and (d) interpenetration degree
luar@xanum.uam.mx (Raúl Montiel)
Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/ajbe An important factor to be considered is the temperature, so
Copyright © 2016 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved depending on this, the extruder will allow plastic mixtures to
20 Raúl Montiel et al.: Novel Twin Screw Co-Extrusion-Electrospinning Apparatus

melt and incorporate well with the rest of the components. It is an auspicious osteoconductive material for the
is important to note that for purposes of use in the next step regeneration of bony defects. These results can be an
electrospinning process, you should use small amounts of innovative reassessment of the current art of selection for
polymer melt feed to a temperature at which its viscosity is novel bone scaffold materials.
low enough to flow continuously, but this temperature This twin screw co-extruder has the versatility to make
temperature of the molten mixture should not reach the electrospinning and co- electrospinning for developing new
degradation temperature of any of its components. The production processes more viable to use in scaffold for tissue
temperature of the melt depends practically on the extruder engineering in the regeneration of both bone and soft tissue.
temperature profile. According to the experimental data of This design will be able to scale the size and distribution of
melt (TM) and softening temperatures (TG) of engineering porosity scaffolds varying continuously, by adding bioactive
plastics, these temperatures have a range from 149 to 166 °C, agents and other components.
Therefore, these plastics are not affected by the degradation As an example scaffolds with interconnected porosity
effects (below 200 °C). from polycaprolactone, incorporating different
In this regard, most of the samples are process able concentrations and particle size distribution of
because none exceeds the degradation temperature of the β-hydroxiapatita and tricalcium phosphate can be produced
materials, and since the temperature profile does not affect to increase the conductivity; with the possibility of additional
any other process or parameters (pressure, output, torque or bioactive agents for cell proliferation and differentiation
elasticity). Under these conditions may be considered in first [13-15].
approximation that the molten polymer behaves as a In addition to controlling the mechanical properties in
Newtonian fluid. The fill ratio (FR) is a measure of the both directions: radial and axial, potentially allowing the best
volume in the screw barrel which is filled with the molten imitation of the natural complexity of native tissues, might
polymer. FR It can also be considered as the flow rate of even be suitable for the repair of critical size bone defects
actual flow velocity driven by rotation of the two extruder and fusion for spinal applications. Despite advances in tissue
screws. engineering, none of these methodologies is flexible enough
Actual Flow Rate to allow industrially scalable and reproducible classification
Fill Ratio = of bone graft substitutes and scaffolding for a wide range of
Drag FLow Rate
compositions, porosity and specific mechanical properties.
According to Mani et al [1], an acceptable approximation
for the flow rate is:
πNDcosθ Wh 2. Apparatus Description
Drag flow rate (Qd , m3 /hour)
2
N is screw speed (revolutions per hour), D is diameter of The Twin co-extruder consists of a stainless steel cylinder
screw (m), θ is flight angle, W is width of screw (m) and H is block which at its center has two cylindrical bores next to
flight depth (m), see Figure 1 and 6. one another to allow the placement of two screws with chord
This design allows the scaffolding graduates generation pitch equal to the length of the screws which rotate in the
layer by layer including phase separation in the melt [2, 3]. same direction, to drag and compress a polymer melt, forcing
Another option suggested by Leong, K, 2008 [2], used in it out for an small extrusion die or capillary nozzle. In
bone tissue engineering, is based upon the use of porous Figure 2, an assembly drawing of the main parts is shown.
polymeric scaffolds seeded with one individuals own stem The co-extruder has a secondary feed port for adding others
cells. This approach promotes tissue constructs based upon polymers, additives and plasticizers, the co-extruder die can
cells´ proliferation and differentiation on a scaffold within a be replaced by a capillary nozzle or needle to fabricate
bioreactor which are then implanted in the injured area. scaffolds by electrospinning. The device has independent
Common polymeric materials used in tissue engineering variable resistors for controlled heating, according to the
scaffolds are polyglycolic acid, polylactide, temperature profile of engineering plastics fed on the main
polycaprolactone (PCL) and its copolymers or their port or hopper at the opposite of the output die.
bio-particles, such as hydroxyapatite and tricalcium The twin screw extrusion system is controlled by tree
phosphate, as well as other growth factors bio agent and coupled gears and a servo motor whose speed control is
some proteins [4, 5, 6-10]. From bio-resorbable polymers, mounted on a small console along with other registry
osteo-conductive and additives extrusion technology twin systems and temperature control.
screws can be applied to manufacture implants and scaffolds In Figure 2 and Table 1, the identification numbers (ID),
for the regeneration and repair of bone tissue. In this twin the quantity of these (ITEMS), description and material
screw co-extrusion technology (TSE), it includes a head machining are listed.
electrospinning device. Normally, for making graded *In Figure 3 the parts forming the nozzle Electro-spinning
structures, PCL and PGS-PCL biocomposites with high are shown, and the details of machining material. +
availability and tricalcium phosphate particles (TCP) and Application of High Voltage (HV: KV 20,000 - 50,000 KV).
PCL is used. This study's results suggest that PGS elastomer
 American Journal of Biomedical Engineering 2016, 6(1): 19-24 21

Table 1. Identifying parts Table 2. Nozzle Parts

ID & DESCRIPTION AND MACHINING ID & DESCRIPTION AND MACHINING

Quantity MATERIAL Quantity MATERIAL
1-1 Insulated Cap Protector; SS 1-1 Allen screw fixing; COM
2-1 Insulation Resistance Protector; SS 2-2 Nozzle Adapted for Electrospinning; NY
3-1 Gear Reduction Sped; SS 3-1 Drilling Hole for UV Lamp; NY
4-1 Support Motor and Power Gear; COM 4-1 UV Lamp Holder; NY
5-1 Shaft and Coupling Transmission; SS 5-1 UV Lamp and Protector; COM
6-1 Conical Feeder Hopper; SS 6-1 HV Nozzle Protector and Shell; NY
7-1 Thread Hole for Feeder Hopper; SS 7-1 Adapter for Needle and HV Contact; NY
8-3 Gears of Twin Screws; HS 8-2 Input Electric Main for UV Lamp; SS
9 y 10-2 Twin Screws; HS Adapter Piece for Flow and temperature
9 -1
temperature measurement; SS
11-4 Adjustable Levelers Screws; SS
12-2 Drilling Hole for Feeder Hopper; SS
13-2 Connectors Resistors; COM
14-2 Contacts for Isolated Resistor; COM
15-1 Drilling Hole for 2o Feeder Hopper; SS
16-3 Independent Variable Resistors; COM
17-1 2o Feeder Hopper; SS
18-1 Nozzle Adapted for Electrospinning; NY
+ 19 -1 Capillary Needle and Contact HV; CU, SS
20-1 Nozzle for Melt Plastic; SS
21-1 Screw for Fixed Nozzle; SS
22-1 Flat Plate Device Support; SS

Stainless Steel = SS
Comercial = COM
Nylamid = NY
Copper = CU

Figure 3. Drawing of the parts of the nozzle electrospinning

The co-extruder nozzle has an attachment consisting of a

UV lamp installed inside a glass tube, to proyect the
ultraviolet radiation (UV) directly into the flow of the
polymer solution, in order to induce crosslinking, on
electro-spun fibers as they pass through the nose up to the
capillary-needle. This UV lamp is installed transversally and
below the flow Figure 3.
Figure 4, shows the extruder from a side view, the
identification numbers correspond to those in Table 1.
The rotation of the twin screw is critical, and dependent on
the type of material to be subjected to the process of
extruding. For our present purposes, the extruder will be
used primarily for engineering plastics, therefore requiring
the rotation of both screws in the same direction, i.e.,
co-rotating, see Figure 5. The extruder was calibrated and
adjusted to the speed of the screws in the heating chamber
(see Figure 4). The extruder was calibrated and adjusted to
the speed of the screws in the heating chamber (see Figure
Figure 2. Identification of main parts of the extruder 4).
22 Raúl Montiel et al.: Novel Twin Screw Co-Extrusion-Electrospinning Apparatus

and the mean recident time defined as:

2WH
t̅ =
W δ2
δνbx �1+ �
wf h2
The dimensionless time as given by:
W δ2
Lδ �1+ �
wf h2
λ=
WH (1-r) cosϕ
Were r is the throttle ratio and L the effective length of
screw.

Figure 4. A drawing showing the extruder from a lateral view

Figure 6. Sections and parameters of the screw

In Figure 6, R screw radius, D screw diameter, θ helix

angle, W channel width, h channel depth, d clearance
between the cylinder and the fillet, wf flight width (see
Figure 1).

Figure 5. Shows the engagement of the gears and twin screw to obtain the
same rotation at the screws, i.e., co-rotating

The extruder was calibrated and adjusted to the speed of

the screws in the heating chamber (see Figure 4). The
rotational speed can be adjusted to the mass of polymer in the
Figure 7. Displaying the electrospinning accessory coupled to the extruder
loading hopper (see Figure 4).
The heating rate is calculated based on the speed of The Figures 8 (a) and (b) show photographs in extrusion
rotation and transp transport of the molten polymer mass, mode for engineering plastics.
 American Journal of Biomedical Engineering 2016, 6(1): 19-24 23

(a)

Figure 10. PGS-PCL UV crosslinked fibers

(b)

Figure 8. (a) Photography in side view, (b) Photography in 25 ° front view

3. Results and Calibration Figure 11. Co-extruding PGS-PCL fibers in layer by layer, at different
loads of PCL, whit 25% hydroxyapatite particles
Several tests were made in engineering plastics, in which
the melting temperature and mixing speeds were calibrated.
In the Figure 9, shows a photograph of polypropylene films 4. Conclusions
obtained with several loads of titanium oxides (TiO2),
Silicon and Alumina. These films were annealed to relieve Since the mesenchymal cells culture protocols require
the stresses in the extrusion. Small parts of these films were more extended study biomedical approach, we only claim
cut for the purpose of their characterization by means of the design and construction of the co-extruder, which allows
X-ray, DSC, IR, etc. the extrusion of films and electrospinning with the formation
of crosslinked fibers, for the potential of soft and hard tissue
regeneration. Therefore we suggest that we have achieved a
novel design and simple and cheap fabrication of an extruder
that provides a method for co-extruding engineering plastics,
oppening the possibility of adding new plastics at different
proportions to produce homogeneous mixtures of
copolymers or related polymers with a wide variety of links
on structural properties. In electrospinning mode, this design
allows fabricating scaffolds that can vary according to the
composition and distribution of the shape and size of the
micro and nano fibers, allowing for the production of
Figure 9. Extruded polypropylene films with TiO2
scaffolds with a wide range of compositions, porosities and
In Figure 10 shows the microphotography of scanning mechanical properties.
electron microscopy (SEM) of poly(glycerol sebacate) PGS
and poly(ε-caprolactone) PCL fibers, obtained by ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
electrospinning and reinforcing crosslinked by UV, while in
Figure 11, we show the cross section of scalfold, The authors express their gratitude to Dr. Augusto Jacobo
co-extruding PGS-PCL fibers in layer by layer, with Montiel Castro for language assistance in the drafting of this
different loads of PCL, whit 25% hydroxyapatite particles. document.