Abstract

Powder-based inkjet 3D printing method is one of the most attractive solid free form techniques. It involves a sequential layering process through which 3D porous scaffolds can be directly produced from computer-generated models. 3D printed products' quality are controlled by the optimal build parameters. In this study, Calcium Sulfate based powders were used for porous scaffolds fabrication. The printed scaffolds of 0.8 mm pore size, with different layer thickness and printing orientation, were subjected to the depowdering step. The effects of four layer thicknesses and printing orientations, (parallel to X, Y and Z), on the physical and mechanical properties of printed scaffolds were investigated. It was observed that the compressive strength, toughness and Young's modulus of samples with 0.1125 and 0.125 mm layer thickness were more than others. Furthermore, the results of SEM and μCT analyses showed that samples with 0.1125 mm layer thickness printed in X direction have more dimensional accuracy and significantly close to CAD software based designs with predefined pore size, porosity and pore interconnectivity.

Highlights

  • The solid free-form fabrication (SFF), known as rapid prototyping (RP) or additive manufacturing (AM), has been recently perceived as a flexible alternative tool to fabricate highly accurate complex shaped scaffolds, traditionally difficult built via conventional material processing techniques [1,2,3,4,5]

  • Prior to the 3DP manufacturing of constructs from a hydroxyapatite, tricalcium phosphate or other bioceramics used for bone regeneration, it is important to review the characteristics that influence the 3D printability of powders before any post hardening step

  • The green strength of porous 3D-printed samples mainly comes from the structure affected by printing conditions

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Summary

Introduction

The solid free-form fabrication (SFF), known as rapid prototyping (RP) or additive manufacturing (AM), has been recently perceived as a flexible alternative tool to fabricate highly accurate complex shaped scaffolds, traditionally difficult built via conventional material processing techniques [1,2,3,4,5]. The 3DP based on MIT’s (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) ink-jet technology is considered to be one of the most futureoriented rapid prototyping (RP) systems with high potential for engineering applications such as bone tissue engineering. This technique is suitable for producing 3-D objects directly from computer-aided design (CAD) data [10,11,12,13,14,15,16]. The 3D printing method uses organic or inorganic binders which locally bind the ceramic particles due to adhesive forces or a hydraulic cement setting reaction [1,7,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24]

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