Preparation and performance of poly (vinyl alcohol)/polylactic acid/hydroxyapatite composite scaffolds based on 3D printing

摘要

Abstract Preparation of biological scaffolds with complex shapes and controllable internal structures is a significant development direction for the tissue engineering field. Due to its simplicity, low‐cost and cost‐effectiveness, fused deposition molding (FDM) is one of the most popular 3D printing technologies. In this paper, polyvinyl alcohol/polylactic acid/hydroxyapatite composites were fabricated successfully. On this basis, composite scaffolds with different pore structures were designed and constructed by using FDM technology. The material structure was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and dynamic thermomechanical analyzer. The results showed that the cross‐sectional morphology of the system presented a “sea‐island” structure. The introduction of PLA and HA significantly increased the modulus of the material, which was beneficial to achieve its FDM processing. The compressibility, mineralization behavior, and biocompatibility of the viscoelastic characteristics to natural cartilage subjected to the condition of filling angle of 45° was systemically invesitgated. Notably, the concentrations of Ca2+ and PO43− in simulated body fluid were reduced by 34.7 and 58.2 on 8th day, indicating a good bone formation and mineralization ability, which was further corroborated by SEM and fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results. Biotoxicity test showed that the scaffold presented excellent biocompatibility.