Mechanical characterization of polylactic acid, polycaprolactone and Lay-Fomm 40 parts manufactured by fused deposition modeling, as a function of the printing parameters

Abstract

This study aims to determine the mechanical properties of parts manufactured by Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) using three biocompatible polymer materials: Polylactic Acid (PLA), Polycaprolactone (PCL) and Lay-Fomm 40. Also, it was analyzed the influence of different printing parameters, material selection, infill percentage, and raster angle, over the mechanical properties. The samples were subjected to tension and compression tests using a universal testing machine, and elastic modulus, yield stress, and ultimate stress were obtained from the stress-strain curves. PLA samples have the highest elastic modulus, yield stress and ultimate stress for both compression and tension tests, for example, the ultimate tensile stress with infill percentage of 30 % and raster angle of 0-90° has an average value of 41.20 MPa, while PCL samples had an ultimate tensile stress average value of 9.68 MPa. On the other hand, Lay-Fomm40 samples had the highest elongations, with percentage values between 300 and 600 %. Finally, ANOVA analysis showed that the choice of the material is the leading printing parameter that contributes to the mechanical properties, with percentages of 84.20% to elastic modulus, 93.30% to yield stress, and 82.44% to ultimate stress. The second important factor is the raster angle, with higher strengths for the 0-90° when compared to 45-135°. On the other hand, the contribution of the infill percentage to the mechanical properties was no statistically significant. The obtained results could be useful for material selection and 3D printing parameters definition for additive manufacturing of scaffolds, implants, and other structures for biomedical and tissue engineering applications.

A Nanoporous 3D-Printed Scaffold for Local Antibiotic Delivery

“…Additionally, we did not assess the impact of infill patterning on the mechanical strength of these scaffolds. However, our previous work [ 22 , 27 ] showed that LAY-FOMM60 is quite elastic with significantly lower mechanical strength than PLA, which is in agreement with other mechanical testing of these materials [ 29 , 30 , 31 ]. Even though this material was able to promote bone repair in a mandible defect, this would have to be considered for load bearing applications and regeneration in large bone defects.…”

Investigating Commercial Filaments for 3D Printing of Stiff and Elastic Constructs with Ligament-Like Mechanics

“…The fabrication of scaffolds for tendon and ligament tissue engineering has utilized numerous synthetic biomaterials, such as polycaprolactone, polyglycolic acid, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), poly-L-lactide, and polyurethane urea, as well as other techniques: electrospinning, knitting, melt extrusion-based 3D-bioplotting, and 3D braiding [ 13 , 30 ]. The technique of FDM in particular has been used to print different polymers to determine their tensile properties [ 43 ]. However, no studies to our knowledge have investigated raster angle in FDM printing to optimize biomaterial mechanics for ACL reconstruction.…”

Impact Strength for 3D-Printed PA6 Polymer Composites under Temperature Changes

“…Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a set of techniques used to join one or more materials to form objects from 3D topologies, generally layer by layer, instead of subtractive technologies such as mechanized cut, foundry, forging, and welding. One tremendous advantage for AM is that printing costs are virtually the same for one as for thousands of pieces [32], and it has excellent compatibility with different materials for constructing highly complex structures. The ISO/ASTM 52900 [9] categorizes the technologies Composite materials are intrinsically limited under localized impact loadings [18].…”