Effects of Fillers on the Hydration Behaviors of Tricalcium Silicate Scaffolds Fabricated by Fused Deposition Modeling

Abstract

With the development of additive manufacturing technology, many types of materials are being utilized, and methods of printing the materials and characteristics of their hydration properties are being studied in the fields of construction and biotechnology. Tricalcium silicate (C3S), which is used as a cement material or biomaterial, is a representative hydraulic material. In previous research, scaffolds were printed via fused deposition modeling and the deformation properties during the hydration process of the printed scaffold were investigated. C3S, like ceramic materials, requires post-processing such as curing after printing, and volumetric deformation occurs during this process. Deformation information is very important to ensure the numerical value of the final product, as well as to suppress the possibility of deformation. In this study, silica, hydroxyapatite (HA), and alumina were mixed with three types of fillers to print a C3S support, which was then cured through a two-step process. In this process, HA and silica, which have good hydrophilicity, exhibited high strength due to the suppression of scaffold deformation. It was confirmed that the smaller the particle size, the more effective it was in obtaining a stable hydrated print.