Biocompatibility and strength tests of PLA/SS316L composite material for orthopedic implant applications utilizing the 3D printing technique.

Medical components made of titanium, steels, ceramic, and aluminium produced by metal injection moulding require different machining processes and creating a custom mould for each patient will limit the mould's flexibility. This research aimed at developing a Polylactic acid (PLA)/Stainless Steel (SS316L) composite filament for 3D printing and investigating the influence of the compounding ratio on the mechanical properties of PLA/SS 316L polymer composite printed by Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) machine. The effects of SS316L content and melting temperature on tensile strength and impact strength of printed samples were analysed at 2%, 7%, and 12% weight percentage (wt.%) and 200°C, 210°C, and 220°C respectively. The SS 316L powder was added to PLA by weight percentage (wt.%), and 0.4 mm diameter nozzle was utilized during printing. At a 12% addition of SS316L, the tensile strength (TS) and Charpy impact strength (IS) were maximised to 52.832 MPa and 0.1275 kJ/m² respectively. A decreasing trend was observed for both properties with 2% and 7% of SS 316L addition. Moreover, when the temperature was set to 220°C, the TS increased for all composites regardless of the weight percentage. The optimized parameter setting by RSM was 12 wt.% and 220°C revealed the TS and IS at 54.04 MPa and 0.172 kJ/m². The errors between the predicted and experimental values for TS and IS were 1.4% and 4.65%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]