17 - 3D printing of graphene-based composites and their applications in medicine and health care

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) printing or additive manufacturing (AM) is a powerful technology that encourages and persuades designers and gives them unprecedented design freedom; however, this process requires fewer tools, hence the reduction of huge costs. Moreover, pieces can be specifically designed using this technology, as there would be no need for any assembly with geometry and complicated features for this apparatus. This technology has emerged as a technology with efficient energy consumption and no sign of contamination for the environment. Using standard material, the shelf life of parts grows, their weights decrease, and yet their strength increases. 3D printers can produce any piece in any shape and at any angle, whether it would be solid, hollow, flat or curved, etc., any piece with any complex design. This need can be felt everywhere: industry, medicine, education, automotive, military, and with anything that needs to be simulated, replicated, and prototyped. With a 3D printer, we can both accelerate the time-consuming process of simulation and make sketches of parts and examine a part by printing a 3D design in a very short time., In recent years, graphene oxide (GO) as the filler has become the subject of much research activity due to its outstanding features in AM. GO is rich in hydrophilic oxygen-rich classes, which favor spreading and cell adhesion; therefore, they play a role in its biocompatibility. Graphene-based polymeric nanocomposites have also been used to reinforce various polymeric materials as reinforcing fillers resulting in outstanding mechanical properties. In this chapter, graphene-based composites 3D printing and its usages in medicine and health care are discussed.