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Fabrication of PCL/β‐TCP scaffolds by 3D mini‐screw extrusion printing
Author(s) -
Dávila J. L.,
Freitas M. S.,
Inforçatti Neto P.,
Silveira Z. C.,
Silva J. V. L.,
d’Ávila M. A.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.43031
Subject(s) - extrusion , materials science , differential scanning calorimetry , polycaprolactone , thermogravimetric analysis , composite material , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , porosity , scanning electron microscope , polymer , chemical engineering , physics , engineering , thermodynamics
Scaffolds of polycaprolactone (PCL) and PCL composites reinforced with β‐tricalcium phosphate (β‐TCP) were manufactured aiming potential tissue engineering applications. They were fabricated using a three‐dimensional (3D) mini‐screw extrusion printing, a novel additive manufacturing process, which consists in an extrusion head coupled to a 3D printer based on the Fab@Home equipment. Thermal properties were obtained by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analyses. Scaffolds morphology were observed using scanning electron microscopy and computed microtomography; also, reinforcement presence was observed by X‐ray diffraction and the polymer chemical structure by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Mechanical properties under compression were obtained by using a universal testing machine and hydrophilic properties were studied by measuring the contact angle of water drops. Finally, scaffolds with 55% of porosity and a pore size of 450 μm have shown promising mechanical properties; the β‐TCP reinforcement improved mechanical and hydrophilic behavior in comparison with PCL scaffolds. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133 , 43031.