Abstract
The aim of this study is to fabricate biodegradable PLA-based composite filaments for 3D printing to manufacture bear-loading lattice structures. First, CaCO3 and TCP as inorganic fillers were incorporated into a PLA matrix to fabricate a series of composite filaments. The material compositions, mechanical properties, and rheology behavior of the PLA/CaCO3 and PLA/TCP filaments were evaluated. Then, two lattice structures, cubic and Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces-Diamond (TPMS-D), were geometrically designed and 3D-printed into fine samples. The axial compression results indicated that the addition of CaCO3 and TCP effectively enhances the compressive modulus and strength of lattice structures. In particular, the TPMS-D structure showed superior load-carrying capacity and specific energy absorption compared to those of its cubic counterparts. Furthermore, the deformation behavior of these two lattice structures was examined by image recording during compression and computed tomography (CT) scanning of samples after compression. It was observed that pore structure could be well held in TPMS-D, while that in cubic structure was destroyed due to the fracture of vertical struts. Therefore, this paper highlights promising 3D-printed biodegradable lattice structures with excellent energy-absorption capacity and high structural stability.
Highlights
Lattice structures have attracted increased attention for their lightweight effect, high specific stiffness–strength, geometry designability, and excellent energy-absorption capacity [1,2]
The failure modes of 3D-printed polylactic acid (PLA) composite triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMS) structures are still not known, and the evolution of internal pore architecture compression load is seldom investigated, which is rather important for the biological response path in cells and new bone trabecular in-growth
Uniform and standard filaments were achieved, and tensile specimens were successfully fused deposition modeling (FDM)-printed without defects
Summary
Lattice structures have attracted increased attention for their lightweight effect, high specific stiffness–strength, geometry designability, and excellent energy-absorption capacity [1,2]. Antony et al [10] fabricated hemp fiber reinforced polylactic acid feedstock filaments and printed honeycomb sandwich structures with superior mechanical performance using the fused deposition modeling (FDM) technique, which showed a lot potential in industry, especially in the manufacture and design of automotive and aerospace prototypes. PLA composites have great potential as FFF building material and the manufactured lattice structures as synthetic trabecular bone scaffolds. Recent research has been carried out to fabricate PLA composite structures as bone scaffolds using FFF 3D printing [17–19]. The failure modes of 3D-printed PLA composite TPMS structures are still not known, and the evolution of internal pore architecture compression load is seldom investigated, which is rather important for the biological response path in cells and new bone trabecular in-growth. Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and tricalcium phosphate (TCP) powder with average size of 1 μm was purchased from Zhongshan Techwill Trading Co., Ltd., Zhongshan, China
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