Fabrication and Characterization of 45S5 Bioactive Glass/Thermoplastic Composite Scaffold by Ceramic Injection...

45S5 bioactive glass (45S5) scaffolds were fabricated using a novel additive-manufacturing (AM) technology. A ceramic injection printer (CIP) was designed by combining injection molding and fused deposition modeling, for the fabrication of three-dimensional constructs of ceramic materials. A high fraction (50 vol%) of 45S5 powder was mixed with the thermoplastic polymer. The synthesized 45S5 composites were subjected to Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The BET results of prepared 45S5 powder were confirmed to have a mean pore diameter of 11.402 nm, and specific surface area is 0.966 m²/g. The prepared 45S5/thermoplastic composite powder was subjected to Thermogravimetric/Differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA). The debinding process of polymer occurred at 192.5, 360.8, and 393 °C. The elastic modulus and ultimate stress of these scaffolds were measured to be 312.49±87.36 MPa and 21.83±6.67 MPa, respectively. The XRD results revealed the presence of Na₆Ca₃Si₆O₁₈ phases. The presence of Si, Ca, P, and Na was confirmed via energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The printed scaffold exhibited amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) expression after immersion in simulated body fluid (SBF) and also it was observed that the intensity of the crystalline phase of 45S5 was decreased, as the immersion time increases. Bioactive glass composites with the high volume fraction can be able to construct 3D complex porous scaffolds using CIP.