Abstract
Infectious diseases (exacerbated by antimicrobial resistance) cause death, loss of quality of life and economic burden globally. Materials with inherent antimicrobial properties offer the potential to reduce the spread of infection through transfer via surfaces or solutions, or to directly reduce microbial numbers in a host if used as implants. Additive Manufacturing (AM) techniques offer shorter supply chains, faster delivery, mass customisation and reduced unit costs, as well as highly complicated part geometries which are potentially harder to clean and sterilise. Here, we present a new approach to introducing antibacterial properties into AM, using Laser Sintering, by combining antimicrobial and base polymer powders prior to processing. We demonstrate that the mechanical properties of the resultant composite parts are similar to standard polymer parts and reveal the mode of the antibacterial activity. We show that antibacterial activity is modulated by the presence of obstructing compounds in different experimental media, which will inform appropriate use cases. We show that the material is not toxic to mammalian cells. This material could be quickly used for commercial products, and our approach could be adopted more generally to add new functionality to Laser Sintered parts.
Highlights
Infectious diseases cause death, loss of quality of life and economic burden globally
We subsequently printed the same part geometries in polyamide 12 mixed with 1% B65003 silver phosphate glass
We found no difference in metabolic activity between any of the wells containing either no part, a part made from polyamide or antibacterial polyamide 12 (Fig. 6)
Summary
Infectious diseases (exacerbated by antimicrobial resistance) cause death, loss of quality of life and economic burden globally. This layer-by-layer approach provides key benefits through removing the need for tooling and increasing the ease with which complex geometries can be produced Despite their clear potential, the range of materials that can be used in AM processes is limited compared to more traditional manufacturing techniques, which in turn has restricted the range of applications in which they can be used. Antimicrobial products are used in the healthcare sector as well as in consumer goods - the demand for these is driven by a desire to improve health, but to develop opportunities to create added value They have the potential to make a positive impact in healthcare in implants, prosthetics and splints[2], and surfaces and devices in clinical www.nature.com/scientificreports settings (e.g. sinks, instruments, keyboards). To the best of our knowledge, no antimicrobial materials made using Laser Sintering have been described to date in the academic literature
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