Hydroxyapatite nano bioceramics optimized 3D printed poly lactic acid scaffold for bone tissue engineering application

To achieve optimum functionality and mechanical properties of advanced manufacturing-based scaffolds for biomedical application, it is important to study their mechanical strength by 3D-printing at different orientations. This study examined the effects of printing at different orientations on the mechanical properties of synthesized 3D-polylactic acid (PLA) and hydroxyapatite-modified PLA (PLA-HAp) scaffolds. A total number of 30 samples were printed in three orientations on the XY plane: 0 degrees, 45 degrees, and 90 degrees. Finite element modeling and simulation was employed to identify the strongest scaffold in terms of compression strength, which is the primary criterion for load bearing bone tissue scaffolds. These findings indicate that 3D-printing at an orientation of 90 degrees on the XY plane resulted in a scaffold with the highest compression strength. Moreover, the fabricated PLA scaffolds showed very poor cell attachment and proliferation on their surface, which is not suitable for their biomedical application. This study additionally showed the optimization of a very simple post-fabrication modification technique with nano HAp for better cell attachment and proliferation with enhanced mechanical properties. The post-fabrication modification of PLA scaffolds by nano-HAp results in excellent cell attachment property with enhanced mechanical strength and stability of up to 47.16% for 90 degrees 3D-printed PLA-HAp scaffolds.