Investigating Commercial Filaments for 3D Printing of Stiff and Elastic Constructs with Ligament-Like Mechanics.

ABSTRACT: The current gold standard technique for treatment of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is reconstruction with autograft. These treatments have a relatively high failure and re-tear rate. To overcome this, tissue engineering and additive manufacturing are being used to explore the potential of 3D scaffolds as autograft substitutes. However, mechanically optimal polymers for this have yet to be identified. Here, we use 3D printing technology and various materials with the aim of fabricating constructs better matching the mechanical properties of the native ACL. A fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printer was used to microfabricate dog bone-shaped specimens from six different polymers-PLA, PETG, Lay FOMM 60, NinjaFlex, NinjaFlex-SemiFlex, and FlexiFil-at three different raster angles.

SUBMITTER: Pitaru AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7570386 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature