Effect of infill pattern on the mechanical properties of polydopamine‐coated polylactic acid orthopedic bone plates developed by fused filament fabrication

Abstract

Distal fractures are the most commonly experienced type of fractures that require fixation of bone plates for healing of fractured bones. Poly Lactic Acid (PLA)‐based bone plates are porous and light in weight. However, they lack mechanical properties that limit their application in biomedical field. Polydopamine coating has been witnessed to undergo covalent interactions, enhancing the mechanical properties of the substrate. The present study is based on the fabrication of PLA‐based bone plates using Fused Filament Fabrication with varying infill patterns. The infill patterns in the study include octet, cubic, grid, concentric, lines, and gyroid. Thereafter, polydopamine coating was deposited on these bone plates using direct immersion coating method. In the study, the effect of infill pattern on coating deposition and modification of mechanical properties has been studied. The microscopic images of fractured bone plates were captured. It was concluded that polydopamine coating was successful in improving mechanical properties for all infill patterns. The findings suggested that a concentric pattern should be used for applications that require both high mechanical strength and maximum elongation at break because elongation at break is higher for concentric patterns than gyroid patterns. Also, for applications requiring only high mechanical strength, a gyroid pattern should be used.

Novel advancements in additive manufacturing of PLA: A review

“…Meanwhile, PNCs have been fabricated with enhanced thermal and electrical conductivity, improved mechanical and thermal expansion, and increased fire retardancy for automotive, oil and gas, and other versatile applications 137–207 . Finally, it is emphasized that 3‐DPT and 4‐DPT are innovative processing technologies, presenting the future route of the manufacturing sector 208–244 …”

Machine learning for forecasting the biomechanical behavior of orthopedic bone plates fabricated by fused deposition modeling

“…Several key findings from studies in FDM and 3D printing parameters include: increasing bed temperature to 160°C and reducing PS to 60 mm/s, as reported by Miazio (2019), Wang et al (2017), results in strong bonding and PLA fiber diffusion. Sharma et al (2022b) investigated various infill patterns for biomedical implants in FDM. The gyroid pattern provided enhanced structural stability and minimal voids, improving biomedical bone plate properties.…”

Optimization of polydopamine coating process for poly lactic acid‐based 3D printed bone plates using machine learning approaches

“…PDM is deposited on PLA through direct immersion technique that involves selection of coating parameters. 22 From the reported literatures 20,21,23,24 on mechanical testing of PDM-coated PLA structures in 1 mg/mL and 2 mg/mL concentrated solutions, it was ascertained that increase in coating solution concentration enhanced the mechanical characteristics of the coated structures. The previous studies have reported coating of PLA structures for submersion time ranging from 4 to 24 h 20,21,[23][24][25] that resulted in deposition of thick coating at longer submersion times.…”

“…PDM is deposited on PLA through direct immersion technique that involves selection of coating parameters 22 . From the reported literatures 20,21,23,24 on mechanical testing of PDM‐coated PLA structures in 1 mg/mL and 2 mg/mL concentrated solutions, it was ascertained that increase in coating solution concentration enhanced the mechanical characteristics of the coated structures.…”