Design and simulation of thermoresponsive polymer membrane for drug delivery device

• Main Author: Gao, Xinchao
• Other Authors: Yeong Wai Yee
• Format: Thesis-Master by Coursework
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2022
• Subjects: Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/158834
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Thermoresponsive hydrogel is a type of material which can experience a reversible transition from hydrated state to dehydrate state. One of the well-studied materials PNIPAM, has a transition temperature around 32 ℃, has been widely chosen for biomedical applications. However, the biocompatibility and mechanical properties are not good enough, as well as the deformation when experienced temperature changes are difficult to fathom. The aim of this study is to introduce another hydrogel GelMA together with PNIPAM to develop a substrate with tunable mechanical properties. The mechanical and thermal properties of different concentration of these hydrogels were tested, and the bilayer structures were designed using Solidworks and the mechanical changes were simulated using commercial software COMSOL. The results show that different membrane devices composed of varying PNIPAM and GelMA underwent different deformation profile when experienced a temperature change. Generally speaking, this study serves as a foundation for development of themoresponsive membrane used for drug delivery device.