Mechanical properties of polymeric implant materials produced by extrusion-based additive manufacturing

Sandra Petersmann; Martin Spoerk; Willem Van De Steene; Muammer Üçal; Johannes Wiener; Gerald Pinter; Florian Arbeiter

doi:10.1016/j.jmbbm.2019.103611

Mechanical properties of polymeric implant materials produced by extrusion-based additive manufacturing

J Mech Behav Biomed Mater. 2020 Apr:104:103611. doi: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2019.103611. Epub 2019 Dec 31.

Authors

Sandra Petersmann¹, Martin Spoerk², Willem Van De Steene³, Muammer Üçal⁴, Johannes Wiener¹, Gerald Pinter¹, Florian Arbeiter⁵

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Materials Science and Testing of Polymers, Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Otto Gloeckel-Straße 2, 8700, Leoben, Austria.
² Institute of Polymer Processing, Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Otto Gloeckel-Straße 2, 8700, Leoben, Austria.
³ Centre for Polymer and Material Technologies, Department of Materials, Textiles and Chemical Engineering, Ghent University, Technologiepark 130, 9052, Zwijnaarde, Belgium.
⁴ Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 29, 8036, Graz, Austria.
⁵ Institute of Materials Science and Testing of Polymers, Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Otto Gloeckel-Straße 2, 8700, Leoben, Austria. Electronic address: florian.arbeiter@unileoben.ac.at.

PMID: 31929095
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2019.103611

Abstract

The application of material extrusion-based additive manufacturing methods has recently become increasingly popular in the medical sector. Thereby, thermoplastic materials are likely to be used. However, thermoplastics are highly dependent on the temperature and loading rate in comparison to other material classes. Therefore, it is crucial to characterise these influences on the mechanical properties. On this account, dynamic mechanical analyses to investigate the application temperature range, and tensile tests at different crosshead speeds (10³, 10¹, 10^-1 and 10^-3 mms^-1) were performed on various 3D-printable polymers, namely polyetheretherketone (PEEK), polylactide (PLA), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), glycol-modified poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PETG), poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and polypropylene (PP). It was found that the mechanical properties of PEEK, PLA, PMMA and PETG hardly depend on temperature changes inside the human body. PVDF and PP show a significant decrease in stiffness with increasing body temperatures. Additionally, the dependency of the stiffness on the strain-rate is increasing between PLA, PP, PEEK, PETG, PMMA and PVDF. Besides the mechanical integrity of these materials (strength, stiffness and its strain-rate and temperature dependency inside the body), the materials were further ranked considering their filling density as a measure of their processability. Hence, useful information for the selection of possible medical applications for each material and the design process of 3D-printed implants are provided.

Keywords: Additive manufacturing; Implant materials; Mechanical properties; Polymers; Strain-rate dependent data.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Humans
Materials Testing
Polymers*
Polymethyl Methacrylate*
Prostheses and Implants
Temperature

Substances

Polymers
Polymethyl Methacrylate