Mechanical performance of three-dimensional bio- nanocomposite scaffolds designed with digital light processing for biomedical applications

Abstract

<strong>Introduction</strong>: The need for biocompatible and bioactive scaffolds to accelerate the regeneration and repair of fractured bones has been considered for bone tissue engineering applications during recent decades. The new methods were developed to produce scaffolds to improve the tissue quality, size of cavities, control the porosity and increase the scaffold compressive strength under different loads. The presence of compounds such as hydroxyapatite (HA), which contains calcium and phosphorus ions, is essential for bone marrow transplantation. The use of carbon nanotubes can be considered to improve mechanical, chemical and biological properties, much like bone collagen. However, the construction of bio-nanocomposite scaffold which includes all of the above properties is very important in accelerating bone repair and also in reducing the problems of using other conventional scaffold methods. <strong>Materials and Methods: </strong>In this paper, the fabrication of a bio-nanocomposite scaffold with a three-dimensional printing method, digital light processing (DLP) has been investigated. The used compounds of photopolymer resin, carbon nanotubes and hydroxyapatite are solvent by ultrasonic and magnet stirrer, then a scaffold model designed in SOLIDWORKS software applied to the DLP 3D printer. <strong>Results: </strong>The addition of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) increases the compressive strength of the samples more than two times, beside it leads to an increase in the porosity of the samples due to the addition of SWCNTs. The scaffold porosity was recorded around 75 and 85%, which is associated with a proper compressive strength around 2 -4 MPa. Addition of 2.5 to 5 wt% SWCNT to HA and photopolymer resin can leads to a better mechanical performance compared to the pure sample. <strong>Conclusion: </strong>The results obtained from this work showed that the above process was successful methodology in preparation of novel scaffold bio-nanocomposites using DLP technique for using in bone tissue engineering.