Effects of steam heat and dry heat sterilization processes on polylactic acid with hydroxyapatite composite printed by fff

Abstract:

3D printing is used for various medical applications, such as the manufacture of guides for surgical operations, custom medical instruments, and low-cost medical applications. In few of these studies that have been performed, the effect of sterilization on these parts has not been considered yet. The fused filament fabrication process (FFF), which is the most widely used today, is used for the making of these guides and instruments. One of the most used materials in the FFF process is polylactic acid (PLA) due to its ease of printing, however, this could be degraded with the sterilization processes by steam heat and dry heat and lose its dimensional accuracy and resistance, something required for medical applications. The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of the steam heat and dry heat sterilization processes on the mixture of PLA and hydroxyapatite (HA) to check whether this mixture can be used in medical applications that are not implantable in the human body. The percentage by weight of hydroxyapatite used is 5%. To study the effect of sterilization processes already mentioned, 3D specimens were printed for flexural, tensile, Shore Hardness and impact mechanical tests. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) tests were also performed. It is concluded that the blend of PLA and hydroxyapatite increases its resistance to temperature but decreases its mechanical characteristics.

Año de publicación:

2021

Keywords:

Fuente:

scopus