Experimental design and investigation on the mechanical behavior of novel 3D printed biocompatibility polycarbonate scaffolds for medical applications

The present research work describes the designing of an artificial scaffold for medical bone applications which were manufactured by color jet 3D printing technology. Two categories of colored cubical artificial scaffolds from polycarbonate thermoplastics powders, namely, VisiJet M3 crystal translucent tough (natural) and VisiJet M3 X white acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastics, were printed with different porosity levels. Six samples in each plastic (totally 12 samples) consisting of 0, 1, 5, 11, 19 and 30% porosity of reticulated scaffolds were designed and printed. The fabricated samples were characterized by the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The printed samples were tested for its mechanical behavior by compression test in terms of elastic modulus, plastic modulus, and yield strength, its deformation mechanisms were investigated by Gibson-Ashby model which then correlated with the microstructures on the fracture samples. It was observed that a good mechanical behavior was obtained in crystal scaffolds samples when compared to the white one. This was attributed to more strength in the struts and effective bonding in its cellular structure. The role of stretch-domination and bend-domination mechanisms on the scaffolds during its compression was investigated. Further, several fracture behaviors were examined and reported based on its SEM fracture images.