Abstract

Polylacite (PLA) is a bioresorbable polymer with potential application for bone tissue repair; however, low heat distortion temperature (HDT) limits its biomedical applications. Due to the low-melting point of PLA, only fused deposition modelling (FDM) was used as a rapid prototyping technology to form PLA products. Here, the work presents a PLA stereocomplex formation which was facilitated by melt blending PLA and poly(D-lactide). The melting point was successfully increased to 219.2°C. Besides, the PLA stereocomplex-based three-dimensional scaffold was formed by selective laser sintering (SLS). The parameters of SLS (energy density, scan speed, scan spacing, preheating temperature etc.) were also optimised by comparing the microstructure. Compared with the FDM, the SLS provides many benefits for fabricating tissue engineering scaffolds due to its rough powder surface. Results show that the PLA stereocomplex was successfully obtained and crystallinity of the stereocomplex was 59.7%.

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