Optimization and significance of fabrication parameters on the mechanical properties of 3D printed Chitosan/PLA scaffold

Abstract

A report has been made on the study of the mechanical properties of 3D printed PLA/chitosan composite, however, the optimization and the significance level of the composite fabrication parameters have not been made. Hence, this article presents the effect, optimization, and significance of fabrication parameters on the multiple mechanical responses of 3D printed chitosan/PLA scaffold. Taguchi-grey relational analysis with L9 (3**3) orthogonal array design was employed based on the design consideration in the previous study. The obtained result revealed that an increase in the wt% of chitosan reduced the mechanical response of the composite. But increase in infill density and annealing temperature increased the mechanical response of the composite. It was observed that 1 wt% of chitosan, 100 of infill density, and 70 °C annealing temperature were found to be the optimal fabrication parameters. It is important to note that the obtained optimal settings were not the same posited in the previous study. The reason for the disagreement is that the present study employed multiple response optimization that was not employed in the previous study. Also, it was noticed that the infill density is the only significant parameter to fabricate mechanically enhanced 3D printed chitosan/PLA scaffold, having a contribution of 95.88%. The robust significance of the infill density was further elucidated with the morphological examination. The statistical confirmation analysis also revealed that there was a correlation between the experimental multiple mechanical responses and the predicted response under a 95% confidence interval. The confidence analysis shows that the predicted optimal settings are efficacious in the composite fabrication. It can then be concluded that with high infill density, a little amount of chitosan, and lesser annealing temperature, fabrication of mechanically enhanced 3D printed chitosan/PLA scaffold is feasible.