pps proceeding - Abstract Preview
pps proceeding
Symposium: S08 - Polymer composites
Oral Presentation
 
 

Elaboration of PCL/HA filaments for additive manufacturing

Backes Eduardo Henrique (1), Boriolo Shimomura Kawany Munique (1), Gonçalves Beatrice Cesar Augusto (1), Pessan Luiz Antonio (1)*

(1) Federal University of São Carlos - São Carlos - Brazil

As the life expectancy of the world population increases, the development of new orthopedic procedures and new materials for bone regeneration have become necessary. One of the most prominent alternatives is the development of polymer scaffolds, which mimic the natural extracellular matrix of the bone (structure, biochemistry, and mechanical properties) in order to enable cell binding, proliferation and differentiation. However, one of the major drawbacks for the use of polymer scaffolds is the lack of bioactivity and usually also its poor mechanical properties. One of the alternatives to produce scaffolds with adequate mechanical properties and bioactive behavior is the production of polycaprolactone (PCL) composites with the addition of bioactive ceramic fillers such as hydroxyapatite (HA). The biocompatibility and biodegradability characteristics of both PCL and ceramic load must be interconnected. Conventional techniques for the production of polymer/ceramic fillers composites usually employ solvents and lead to a morphology formation with pore size distribution. In this work, the production of PCL/HA filaments for additive manufacturing technique was based on material extrusion using a twin-screw extruder. Both rheological and thermal properties were evaluated. All samples tend to a shear-thinning behavior and a significantly high viscous modulus at low frequencies. The higher the amount of HA the higher the elastic behavior of the samples. Preliminar printing tests confirmed that both PCL and PCL/HA composites filaments are adequate as feedstock for additive manufacturing. Key-words: polycaprolactone, hydroxyapatite, composites, extrusion, rheology.