Indirect Additive Manufacturing Processing of Poly-Lactide-co-Glycolide

Abstract

The research and development of biomaterials have brought about new treatments in regenerative medicine. The research work presented in this paper focus on the use of Poly-Lactide-co-glycolide (PLGA) in the fabrication of patient specific fracture fixation plate by indirect additive manufacturing method. The use of biopolymers such as PLGA has been seen as a solution to the problems of stress shield and post-surgery inherent in biometal fixation plates. This paper discusses the consequence of this processing method on characteristics and properties of the PLGA. PLGA of ratio 50:50, 65:35 and 85:15 was processed and compared. The granules of PLGA were positioned in the cavity of the stereolithography (SLA) mould and heated under constant pressure with sintering temperature of 73°C for 2.0hours. Both the variation in samples fabricated from this process with the designed model and the changes in material characteristics are below 10%. The flexural strength for PLGA of ratio 50:50, 65:35 and 85:15 is 73.8±2.3MPa, 75.0±2.8, 60.0±11.7, respectively. The characteristics and mechanical tests indicate that the results were comparable with conventional processing of PLGA.

Advanced manufacturing applied to nuclear fusion—challenges and solutions

“…Multi-step AM processes result in the formation of a green body that requires subsequent de-binding and sintering thermal treatments to obtain the final ceramic part. Alternatively, another ceramic AM route, which is usually referred to as negative ceramic AM, consists in using AM to first shape sacrificial polymer moulds, that are then impregnated with a ceramic slurry by investment casting or gel-casting [31].…”

Additive manufacturing of advanced ceramic materials

“…Alternatively, another ceramic additive manufacturing route, which is usually referred to as negative ceramic AM, consists in using AM to first shape sacrificial polymer moulds that are then impregnated with a ceramic slurry by investment casting [21] or gelcasting [22]; the polymer is then removed by dissolution or thermal burn-out. This method has the advantage of using AM to shape polymers, which are both easier and more cost-effective to additively manufacture than ceramics, then use conventional colloidal casting processes to shape ceramic parts.…”