Influence of Cryogenic Temperature on Degradation of Step-Graded Scaffold: A CFD Study

Cryopreservation technology is used for the storage of biological substances. The present work shows the effect of cryogenic temperature (230 °K) on graded PDMS scaffold degradation at the different rates of cooling (− 5, − 2 and − 1 °K/min). Different 2D structures of 5 × 5 PDMS scaffolds had been designed by variation of hole distance and hole diameter. Transient analysis of different structures was evaluated for defined rate of cooling by using of fully coupled heat transfer in solid and fluid along with solid mechanics physics. Five different parameters (temperature, stress, displacement gradient, strain tensor and deformation gradient) associated with scaffold degradation were observed in the presence of water at the different region of interest (ROI). The result shows that significant variation had been found in all parameters affecting the scaffold's degradation.