The feasibility of printing polylactic acid–nanohydroxyapatite composites using a low‐cost fused deposition modeling 3D printer

The current “gold standard” to treat bone lesions is allografts and autografts, both presenting important disadvantages such as risk of infection and morbidity. Synthetic grafts and scaffolds for bone regeneration represent a promising solution. Fused deposition modeling is a valid tool for developing synthetic bone grafts of complex shapes, which is a key issue. The possibility of building polylactic acid–nanohydroxyapatite (PLA/nanoHA) composites by 3D printing was systematically evaluated. PLA/nanoHA filaments for low‐cost 3D printers were produced by a multistep solvent‐free procedure and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry, and rheometry. TGA analysis confirmed the presence of the nanoHA amounts used in the composites, equal to 5 and 15 wt %. The glass‐transition temperature and degree of crystallinity of PLA are not influenced by presence of nanoHA, which remains substantially amorphous. The morphological analysis and compression testing on printed samples showed that nanoHA was uniformly dispersed within the PLA matrix and improved the PLA mechanical properties without changing the rheological performance. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 44656.