A direct and comprehensive comparative study on different 3D printing modalities was performed. We employed two representative 3D printing modalities, laser‐ and extrusion‐based, which are currently used to produce patient‐specific medical implants for clinical translation, to assess how these two different 3D printing modalities affect printing outcomes. The same solid and porous constructs were created from the same biomaterial, a blend of 96% poly‐ε‐caprolactone (PCL) and 4% hydroxyapatite (HA), using two different 3D printing modalities. Constructs were analyzed to assess their printing characteristics, including morphological, mechanical, and biological properties. We also performed an in vitro accelerated degradation study to compare their degradation behaviors. Despite the same input material, the 3D constructs created from different 3D printing modalities showed distinct differences in morphology, surface roughness and internal void fraction, which resulted in different mechanical properties and cell responses. In addition, the constructs exhibited different degradation rates depending on the 3D printing modalities. Given that each 3D printing modality has inherent characteristics that impact printing outcomes and ultimately implant performance, understanding the characteristics is crucial in selecting the 3D printing modality to create reliable biomedical implants.
This content will become publicly available on June 17, 2025
Orbital implants are necessary for reconstructing fractured orbital walls and are traditionally fabricated using titanium or polyethylene, but these materials result in medical complications such as increased risk of implant migration and hemorrhaging. Therefore, orbital implants constructed from biocompatible and biodegradable polymers have been recently researched to mitigate these risks. Material extrusion three-dimensional (3D) printing techniques, especially fused deposition modeling (FDM), can be applied to produce patient-specific orbital implants. However, current structures fabricated by FDM usually possess poor mechanical properties and high surface roughness. In this work, an embedded FDM method is designed and implemented to fabricate polycaprolactone (PCL) orbital implants with increased mechanical properties and surface morphology through the development and utilization of a temperature-stable yield-stress suspension comprised of fumed silica particles and a sunflower oil solvent. The rheological properties of the suspension were measured and tuned to produce a viable support bath material above the melting temperature of PCL. Filaments, single-layer sheets, and tensile test samples were printed to optimize the printing parameters, verify the surface morphology, and validate the mechanical properties, respectively. After that, a numerical simulation was performed to determine the mechanical robustness of the designed orbital implant model. Finally, the orbital implant was printed, measured, and implanted into a mock-up orbital socket to verify the viability of the proposed embedded FDM method.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 2229004
- PAR ID:
- 10563385
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 978-0-7918-8810-0
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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