Abstract
In the last years, a large number of new biocompatible materials for 3D printers have emerged. Due to their recent appearance and rapid growth, there is little information about their mechanical properties. The design and manufacturing of oral appliances made with 3D printing technologies require knowledge of the mechanical properties of the biocompatible material used to achieve optimal performance for each application. This paper focuses on analysing the mechanical behaviour of a wide range of biocompatible materials using different additive manufacturing technologies. To this end, tensile and bending tests on different types of recent biocompatible materials used with 3D printers were conducted to evaluate the influence of the material, 3D printing technology, and printing orientation on the fragile/ductile behaviour of the manufactured devices. A test bench was used to perform tensile tests according to ASTM D638 and bending tests according to ISO 178. The specimens were manufactured with nine different materials and five manufacturing technologies. Furthermore, specimens were created with different printing technologies, biocompatible materials, and printing orientations. The maximum allowable stress, rupture stress, flexural modulus, and deformation in each of the tested specimens were recorded. Results suggest that specimens manufactured with Stereolithography (SLA) and milling (polymethyl methacrylate PMMA) achieved high maximum allowable and rupture stress values. It was also observed that Polyjet printing and Selective Laser Sintering technologies led to load–displacement curves with low maximum stress and high deformation values. Specimens manufactured with Digital Light Processing technology showed intermediate and homogeneous performance. Finally, it was observed that the printing direction significantly influences the mechanical properties of the manufactured specimens in some cases.
Highlights
The dental sector is in continuous evolution towards the use of the latest technological advances [1,2,3,4,5]
This paper focuses on the influence of the manufacturing process and printing direction on the properties of parts manufactured with a wide range of biocompatible materials used in dentistry
– Specimens manufactured with Stereolithography (SLA) and milling achieved high maximum allowable and rupture stress values
Summary
The dental sector is in continuous evolution towards the use of the latest technological advances [1,2,3,4,5]. Nowadays computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM), which includes additive manufacturing (AM) techniques, are often used for the digital workflow in dentistry. Such technologies are used for the design of dental arches and appliances through data recording with intraoral scanners (IOS) [6, 7]. 3D printing and AM can be applied to a wide range of medical applications [19]. This way, Abid Haleem et al performed a review of the applications of 3D printing in bone tissue engineering [20], Genoa et al studied the main factors that are critical for bioprinting in bone tissue engineering [21] and Daniela et al proposed a novel synchronized dual bioprinting approach for mechanically and biologically improved substitutes for cartilage tissue engineering [22]. Different additive manufacturing techniques applied in the design, diagnosis and planning of a locked intramedullary nail used in the diaphyseal femoral fractures were studied by Fernandes et al [23]
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