Textile Fiber Production of Biopolymers – A Review of Spinning Techniques for Polyhydroxyalkanoates in Biomedical Applications

The superior biocompatibility and biodegradability of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) compared to man-made biopolymers such as polylactic acid promise huge potential in biomedical applications, especially tissue engineering (TE). Textile fiber-based TE scaffolds offer unique opportunities imitate the anisotropic, hierarchical, or strain-stiffening properties native tissues. A combination PHAs’ enhanced could improve performance scaffolds. However, complex crystallization behavior resulting intricate spinning procedures remain a challenge. This review focuses on discussing developments PHA melt wet spinning, their challenges, process parameters, fiber characteristics while revealing lack an in-depth characterization wet-spun fibers melt-spun filaments, leading squandered scaffold development. Additionally, application PHAs other than poly-4-hydroxybutyrate is hampered by failure polymer purity meet requirements for applications.