Calcium Phosphate Coatings by Sol-Gel on Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene Substrate

Additive manufacture is an effective technology to produce complex macrostructures from polymers. Sol-gel is a chemical process that affords multifunctional materials by functionalization of different substrates. This work reports on the use of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene polymer (ABS) as starting material to obtain a substrate by additive manufacture. Coating of ABS by the sol-gel methodology generated a multifunctional material. Sols with and without phosphate ions were prepared from silicon and calcium alkoxide. Based on X-ray diffraction patterns, a calcium phosphate crystalline structure emerged on ABS after contact of the substrate with simulated body fluid. Infrared analysis revealed that the peaks of the functionalized substrate shifted, indicating that ABS interacted with the sol-gel coating. According to thermal analysis, the maximum decomposition temperature of the coated samples was 20 °C higher as compared to non-coated ABS. Sol-gel and additive manufacture are important technologies to produce materials with applications in biological medium.