title: On the structural, mechanical, and biodegradation properties of HA/β-TCP robocast scaffolds.
abstract: Hydroxyapatite/β-tricalcium phosphate (HA/β-TCP) composite scaffolds have shown great potential for bone-tissue engineering applications. In this work, ceramic scaffold with different HA/β-TCP compositions (pure HA, 60HA/40β-TCP, and 20HA/80β-TCP) were fabricated by a robotic-assisted deposition (robocasting) technique using water-based hydrogel inks. A systematic study was conducted to investigate the porosity, mechanical property, and degradation of the scaffolds. Our results indicate that, at a similar volume porosity, the mechanical strength of the sintered scaffolds increased with the decreasing rod diameter. The compressive strength of the fabricated scaffolds (porosity ≈ 25-80 vol %) varied between ∼3 and ∼50 MPa, a value equal or higher than that of human cancellous bone (2-12 MPa). Although there was a slight increase of Ca and P ions in water after 5 month, no noticeable degradation of the scaffolds in SBF or water was observed. Our findings from this work indicate that composite calcium phosphate scaffolds with customer-designed chemistry and architecture may be fabricated by a robotic-assisted deposition method.
authors: Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720; Department of Materials Engineering and Civil Construction, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG 31270-901, Brazil.
authors: Manuel
authors: M
authors: Houmard
authors: Qiang
authors: Q
authors: Fu
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Genet
authors: Eduardo
authors: E
authors: Saiz
authors: Antoni P
authors: AP
authors: Tomsia
mesh_terms: D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry; D002130:Calcium Phosphates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002516:Ceramics / Q000737:chemistry*; D019245:Compressive Strength; D017886:Durapatite / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D012371:Robotics; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D002130:Calcium Phosphates; C485817:beta-tricalcium phosphate; D017886:Durapatite
keywords: HA/β-TCP composites; biomedical scaffolds; calcium phosphates; robocasting; tissue engineering