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Novel radiopaque poly (lactic acid) filament production for phantom applications, and model studies for hard tissues

Özkan Özmen (Department of Industrial Design Engineering, Erciyes Universitesi Mühendislik Fakültesi, Kayseri, Turkey)
Ömer Barışkan Yasan (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Erciyes Universitesi Mühendislik Fakültesi, Kayseri, Turkey)
Çağlar Sevim (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University, Niğde, Turkey)
Erkan Yilmaz (Department of Industrial Design Engineering, Erciyes Universitesi Mühendislik Fakültesi, Kayseri, Turkey)
Mehmet Doğan (Department of Textile Engineering, Erciyes Universitesi Mühendislik Fakültesi, Kayseri, Turkey and Erciyes Teknopark, Hematainer Biotechnology and Health Products Inc, Kayseri, Turkiye)

Rapid Prototyping Journal

ISSN: 1355-2546

Article publication date: 29 November 2024

78

Abstract

Purpose

The complex geometries of human tissues are characterized by the employment of phantoms in various fields of medicine ranging from active treatment stages to educational purposes. Despite the exceptional abilities of the fused filament fabrication (FFF) technology to produce rapid and patient-specific complex anatomical models, the issue of human tissue-filament material incompatibilities persists owing to the lack of attenuation coefficients in the same range as biological tissues. The purpose of this study is to develop a novel biodegradable filament that can mimic human hard tissues by addressing the challenge mentioned above.

Design/methodology/approach

The current study addresses the issue through proposing a novel biodegradable radiopaque filament containing poly (lactic acid) (PLA) and antimony trioxide (Sb2O3) with increasing amounts (3 wt%, 5 wt% and 10 wt%) for hard tissues. Other than the thermal/flow characterization and internal structural analyses, as for evaluating the effectiveness of the produced filament under computed tomography (CT) imaging, two detailed anthropomorphic phantoms (L3 vertebra and femur bone) are produced and tested.

Findings

Results show that Sb2O3 disperse homogeneously and serve as a nucleating agent for PLA crystallization. Gyroid pattern gets very close isotropic structure with the highest hounsfield unit (HU) values. 5 wt% Sb2O3 is required to get the HU values of cortical bone. The produced model hard tissues are in very compatible with patient images in all details including cortical thickness.

Practical implications

The results of this study will contribute to the development of radiopaque products in medical applications using three-dimensional printing.

Originality/value

The current research shows that inexpensive, patient-specific, detailed medical models can be produced with a novel biodegradable radiopaque filament containing PLA/Sb2O3. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study has examined the use of Sb2O3 in radiopacity applications in any polymeric material.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Erciyes University Dean of Research for providing the necessary infrastructure and laboratory facilities at the ArGePark research building.

Funding information: This work was supported by Erciyes University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit under grant no FBA-2023–12864.

Declaration of competing interest: This research was conducted by the authors without any identified conflicts of interest.

Citation

Özmen, Ö., Yasan, Ö.B., Sevim, Ç., Yilmaz, E. and Doğan, M. (2024), "Novel radiopaque poly (lactic acid) filament production for phantom applications, and model studies for hard tissues", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-06-2024-0244

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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