Material Processing of PLA-HAp-CS-Based Thermoplastic Composite Through Fused Deposition Modeling for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Hydroxyapatite (HAp) is a commonly used biomaterial (due to its excellent bioactivity, biocompatibility, and osteoconductive properties) having potential applications in clinical dentistry, tissue engineering, orthopedic, and maxillofacial surgery. It is structurally and chemically similar to the enamel, dentin, and bone, which is one of the main reasons to use it in bone/tissue regeneration. The usage of virgin HAp is limited due to less strength and brittleness. In the last two decades, lot of development has taken place in bioactive polymers–ceramics composites (bio-analogue), especially in the field of biomedical application for bone analogue design, mechanical and biological performances as per clinical and biological needs. In this chapter, procedure for reinforcement of HAp and chitosan (CS) in biocompatible and biodegradable polymer polylactic acid (PLA) has been outlined for fabrication of biocompatible feedstock filament by using twin-screw extruder (TSE). Since PLA is one of the most commonly used thermoplastic for fused deposition modeling (FDM) of scaffolds, the PLA-HAp-CS composite can be gainfully employed in various biomedical applications. Finally, the functional prototypes have been printed on commercial FDM printer and mechanical properties have been optimized (by using biocompatible feedstock filament prepared with TSE). Also, the results have been supported by SEM and optical photomicrographs for better understanding.