Production and properties of micro-porous polymer-ceramic scaffolds for 3D printing bone implants

Authors:

• Rafał Kamil Podgórski,
• Michał Wojasiński,
• Tomasz Ciach

Abstract

Osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and bone damage are some of the most disruptive diseases to afflict human mobility. The most common approach is the implantation of artificial, metal, or ceramic implants or bone from another donor. The better option would be to use biodegradable materials, which can use the organism’s natural regeneration forces to heal damaged tissue. 3D printing techniques can deliver such materials tailored to each patient. In this work, we present a method of producing polymer or polymerceramic filament for obtaining 3D printed scaffolds with micro-porous structure. To obtaining a polymer-ceramic filament production method, polycaprolactone polymer (PCL), β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) were chosen as model materials, and polyethylene glycol (PEG) was selected as a porous-making agent. PCL was dissolved in dichloromethane and mixed with β-TCP and PEG. Solutions of polymers and ceramic were poured on the flat glass bed and dried at 40 ºC The obtained polymer-ceramic foils were melted at 100ºC in a stainless-steel container, pressed through a nozzle, and cooled into filaments with 2, 85mm diameter. Filaments were used to 3D print simple scaffolds in ZMorph VX commercial 3D printer. Produced scaffolds were washed in distilled water for removing PEG, and obtained micro-porous structures were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and in vitro culture with MG63 human cell line. The presented method gave flexible and resilient filaments containing PCL, β-TCP, and PEG, useful in commercial 3D printers and can be used to print 3D objects. SEM images of printed scaffolds show microporous polymer structure with evenly deployed ceramic particles on a surface. Furthermore, materials obtained in this way have good printing precision and show low cytotoxicity. These results open up a path for fast and cheap production of micro-porous 3D printed implants.