Additive Manufactured Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering: Physical Characterization of Thermoplastic Composites with Functional Fillers
Author/s
Sinha, Ravi; Sanchez, Alberto; Camara-Torres, Maria; Uriszar-Aldaca, Iñigo Calderon; Calore, Andrea Roberto; [et al.]Date
2021Keywords
Composites
Fillers
Rheology
Mechanical properties
Additive manufacturing
Modeling
Abstract
Thermoplastic polymer–filler composites are excellent materials for bone tissue engineering (TE) scaffolds, combining the functionality of fillers with suitable load-bearing ability, biodegradability, and additive manufacturing (AM) compatibility of the polymer. Two key determinants of their utility are their rheological behavior in the molten state, determining AM processability and their mechanical load-bearing properties. We report here the characterization of both these physical properties for four bone TE relevant composite formulations with poly(ethylene oxide terephthalate)/poly(butylene terephthalate (PEOT/PBT) as a base polymer, which is often used to fabricate TE scaffolds. The fillers used were reduced graphene oxide (rGO), hydroxyapatite (HA), gentamicin intercalated in zirconium phosphate (ZrP-GTM) and ciprofloxacin intercalated in MgAl layered double hydroxide (MgAl-CFX). The rheological assessment showed that generally the viscous behavior dominated the elastic behavior ...
Type
journal article