Fabrication and Characterization of PLA Composite Filament for Medical Applications

Additive manufacturing (AM) has demonstrated its potential in fabricating intricate and customized anatomical parts for biomedical applications. However, the widespread commercial adoption of 3D printing in biomanufacturing is hindered by the lack of readily available biocompatible, biodegradable, and chemically inert biomaterials. Fused filament fabrication technology has emerged as a promising approach to address this limitation by enabling the use of various polymers and polymer-based composites in medical applications, particularly for the fabrication of scaffolds, clinical devices, and tissue engineering systems. This research manuscript focuses on the development of a novel polylactic acid (PLA)-based biomaterial composite. The composite filament is thoroughly characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. These characterizations provide valuable insights into the structural and thermal properties of the developed filament, facilitating its potential application in biomanufacturing and biomedical engineering.