Additive Manufacturing and Mechanical Characterization of PLA-Based Skull Surrogates

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Materials Science
• Additive Manufacturing

Background:

• Occupational and leisure activities pose risks of head impacts, leading to injuries affecting quality of life.
• Effective head protection design requires accurate head simulators that replicate impact responses.
• Current methods for creating head surrogates can be costly and lack reproducibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate 3D-printed human skull surrogates for impact testing.
• To assess the mechanical properties of 3D-printed bone sections and full skull models.
• To investigate the influence of printing parameters and sectioning strategies on surrogate performance.

Main Methods:

• 3D printing of human skull bone sections and complete skulls using polylactic acid (PLA).
• Quasi-static flexural testing of 3D-printed bone sections to evaluate printing orientation and geometry effects.
• Lateral compression and frontal penetration tests on surrogate skulls to assess impact performance and sectioning strategy.
• Mechanical testing under quasi-static loading conditions.

Main Results:

• Printing orientation had minimal impact on bone section flexural properties due to high infill.
• Sample geometry significantly influenced flexural properties of bone sections.
• PLA-based surrogate skulls reasonably reproduced the mechanical behavior of human skulls.
• Sectioning strategies revealed the role of skull sutures and optimized manufacturing.

Conclusions:

• 3D-printed skull surrogates provide a viable, cost-effective, and anatomically correct alternative for head impact research.
• The developed surrogates can aid in the design and manufacturing of improved head protection devices.
• This research establishes a foundation for creating comprehensive surrogate head models for advanced biomechanical studies.