Trilateral Multi-Functional Polyamide 12 Nanocomposites with Binary Inclusions for Medical Grade Material Extrusion 3D Printing: The Effect of Titanium Nitride in Mechanical Reinforcement and Copper/Cuprous Oxide as Antibacterial Agents

Nectarios Vidakis; Markos Petousis; Nikolaos Mountakis; Apostolos Korlos; Vassilis Papadakis; Amalia Moutsopoulou

doi:10.3390/jfb13030115

Trilateral Multi-Functional Polyamide 12 Nanocomposites with Binary Inclusions for Medical Grade Material Extrusion 3D Printing: The Effect of Titanium Nitride in Mechanical Reinforcement and Copper/Cuprous Oxide as Antibacterial Agents

J Funct Biomater. 2022 Aug 4;13(3):115. doi: 10.3390/jfb13030115.

Authors

Nectarios Vidakis¹, Markos Petousis¹, Nikolaos Mountakis¹, Apostolos Korlos², Vassilis Papadakis³, Amalia Moutsopoulou¹

Affiliations

¹ Mechanical Engineering Department, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Estavromenos, 71410 Heraklion, Greece.
² Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, International Hellenic University, 14th km, Thessaloniki-N. Moudania, Thermi, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece.
³ Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, 71110 Heraklion, Greece.

Abstract

In this work, for the first time, polyamide 12 (PA12) nanocomposites with binary inclusions in material extrusion (MEX) 3D printing were developed. The aim was to achieve an enhanced mechanical response with the addition of titanium nitride (TiN) and antibacterial performance with the addition of copper (Cu) or cuprous oxide (Cu₂O), towards the development of multi-functional nanocomposite materials, exploiting the 3D printing process benefits. The prepared nanocomposites were fully characterized for their mechanical properties. The thermal properties were also investigated. Morphological characterization was performed with atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The antibacterial performance was investigated with an agar-well diffusion screening process. Overall, the introduction of these nanofillers induced antibacterial performance in the PA12 matrix materials, while at the same time, the mechanical performance was significantly increased. The results of the study show high potential for expanding the areas in which 3D printing can be used.

Keywords: 3D printing; copper (Cu); cuprous oxide (Cu2O); material extrusion (MEX); mechanical characterization; nanocomposites; polyamide 12 (PA12); titanium nitride (TiN).

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.