The effect of 3D printing on the morphological and mechanical properties of polycaprolactone filament and scaffold

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) printing becomes an attractive technique to fabricate tissue engineering scaffolds through its high control on fabrication and repeatability using the printing parameters. This technique can be combined by the finite element method (FEM), and tissue-specific scaffolds with desirable morphological and mechanical properties can be designed and manufactured. In this study, the influential 3D printing parameters on the morphological and mechanical properties of polycaprolactone (PCL) filament and scaffold were studied experimentally and numerically. First, the effects of printing parameters and process on the properties of extruded PCL filament were investigated. Then, using FEM, the effects of filament specifications on the overall characteristics of the scaffold were evaluated. Results showed that both the printing process in terms of resting time and remaining time and the printing parameters like pressure, printing speed, and printing path length have influenced the filament properties. In addition, both the filament diameter and elastic modulus had significant effects on the properties of scaffold especially, a 20% increase in the filament diameter caused the scaffold compressive elastic modulus to rise by around 72%. It is concluded that the printing parameters and process must be tuned very well in fabricating scaffolds with the desired morphology and mechanical property.

3D Bioprinted Scaffolds Containing Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Lyosecretome: Next Generation Controlled Release Device for Bone Regenerative Medicine

“…More recently, additive manufacturing technology (e.g., 3D printing and bioprinting) has been employed to fabricate scaffolds with a complex shape and internal porous structure [ 19 , 20 ]. The 3D printing process is generally articulated as follows: (i) a virtual 3D ComputerAided Design (CAD) model is created starting from information collected from patient scans or computer simulations; (ii) based on 3D printing technology, a set of instructions, namely, G-code, is created and exported to the 3D printer, allowing the precise control and construction of the model through a layer-by-layer deposition.…”

Effects of Two Melt Extrusion Based Additive Manufacturing Technologies and Common Sterilization Methods on the Properties of a Medical Grade PLGA Copolymer

“…However, the DPP process should be used with more thermal stable bioabsorbable polymers, as it enables skipping the filament extrusion step and thus simplifying manufacturing process, thereby reducing the costs and qualification times that are essential for medical device development. Polycaprolactone could be a promising polymer to use with the DPP process thanks to its low melting point, thermal stability, and good melt viscosity properties [ 36 , 37 , 38 ]. Ahlinder et al have demonstrated that the PCL molecular weight was not significantly altered after 3D printing, which makes 3D printing suitable for an additive manufacturing process that requires a longer residence time above the melting point, such as using a PAM printer.…”

Computing the bond strength of 3D printed polylactic acid scaffolds in mode I and II using experimental tests, finite element method and cohesive zone modeling

“…According to ASTM F42, printing processes can be divide into seven subgroups of extrusion-based, powder bed fusion, binder jetting, material jetting, directed energy deposition, sheet lamination, and vat photo-polymerization processes [3]. Extrusion-based FDM, as a straightforward and cost-effective method [4,5], provides users to fabricate complex threedimensional parts quickly by deposition of the melted filaments through a nozzle on a building platform.…”