SiOC(N) Cellular Structures with Dense Struts by Integrating Fused Filament Fabrication 3D Printing with Polymer‐Derived Ceramics

Abstract

Great advances have been made in various 3D printing methods for ceramics. Fabrication of Si‐based ceramics using polymer‐derived ceramics (PDCs) is gaining popularity. Using this route, preceramic polymers can be shaped in the polymer state and then pyrolyzed to produce different types of ceramics. Cellular ceramics can be manufactured using this technique. Herein, the novel fabrication of cellular ceramics with a two‐step process using PDCs is reported. First cellular structures are 3D printed with fused filament fabrication (FFF) using thermoplastic polyurethane and impregnated with preceramic polymer polysilazane. Second, pyrolysis of the impregnated structure produces a self‐similar ceramic cellular structure. The impact of 1) catalysts, 2) curing environment, and 3) pyrolysis sequence optimization to form cellular ceramics with fully dense SiOC(N) struts are systemically evaluated. The resultant custom ceramic components can tolerate operating temperatures of 1500 °C and can be manufactured for less than 5% of the cost of competing methods. The ceramic material is shown to be biocompatible and promotes fast cell adhesion. Finally, early‐stage cell activation on the SiOC(N) structure is shown to be tunable by adjusting the porosity with this 3D printing to mimic the bone tissue geometry for bone regeneration.

3D Printed SiOC(N) Ceramic Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Regeneration: Improved Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Bone Marrow‐Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells

“…The research also showed that the scaffolds can be manufactured, with high reproducibility and industrial tolerances, at an affordable and thus accessible price. The preliminary biological studies proved the material to be non-cytotoxic, promote fast cell adhesion, and early-stage cell activations [43]. In the present study, the research is focused on the impact of the geometry of the scaffold on the osteogenic differentiation of hMSCs.…”

“…Therefore, the materials used as well as the geometry of the scaffold have relevant impacts on the biological performance. In our previous study [43] the fabrication procedures were optimized and the physical, mechanical, chemical, and preliminary biological properties of the SiOC(N) ceramic scaffolds were already thoroughly characterized. The results demonstrated that the novel method eliminates the possibility of having pores or defects inside the struts with complete impregnation of the preceramic polymer in the TPU structures.…”

“…Novel method of fabricating SiOC(N) cellular structures with dense struts by integrating FFF 3D printing with polymer-derived ceramics was reported in our previous paper. The method utilizes the simplicity of the polymer FFF combined the polymer-derived ceramics to obtain highresolution ceramic scaffolds [43,44] with both tunable pore size and low cost fabrication on a RepRap class 3D printer able to print thermoplastic elastomer [45,46]. Moreover, the preliminary biological evaluations in a previous study showed that the ceramic material has good cytocompatibility, promoting fast cell adhesion and early-stage cell activities [43].…”

“…The method utilizes the simplicity of the polymer FFF combined the polymer-derived ceramics to obtain highresolution ceramic scaffolds [43,44] with both tunable pore size and low cost fabrication on a RepRap class 3D printer able to print thermoplastic elastomer [45,46]. Moreover, the preliminary biological evaluations in a previous study showed that the ceramic material has good cytocompatibility, promoting fast cell adhesion and early-stage cell activities [43]. This makes it possible to apply the scaffold to mimic the bone tissue geometry and microenvironment for bone regeneration.…”

3D Printed SiOC(N) Ceramic Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Regeneration: Improved Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells

“…A novel method of fabricating SiOC(N) cellular structures with dense struts by integrating FFF 3D printing with polymer-derived ceramics was reported in our previous paper. The method utilizes the simplicity of the polymer FFF combined with the polymer-derived ceramics to obtain high-resolution ceramic scaffolds [40,41] with both tunable pore size and low-cost fabrication on a RepRap-class 3D printer able to print thermoplastic elastomer [42,43]. Moreover, the preliminary biological evaluations in a previous study showed that the ceramic material has good cytocompatibility, promoting fast cell adhesion and early-stage cell activities [40].…”