Processing and characterization of PLA/HA composites reinforced with natural sugarcane powder

Laboratory of Nuclear, Atomic, Molecular, Mechanical, and Energy Physics, Faculty of Sciences, Chouaib Doukkali University, BP 20, El Jadida 24000, Morocco.

Abstract

In enhancing bone tissue engineering technology, polylactic acid (PLA) composite has been developed as they are biodegradable, renewable, and can be printed. Nevertheless, PLA has a lower mechanical performance due to its brittle nature. The ration of filler that was required in the PLA/hydroxyapatite (HA) biocomposites in this investigation was reinforced by varying ratios of natural sugarcane bagasse (SCB) powder to be applied in fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing processes. PLA/HA/SCB composites with 5, 10 and 15 wt % percent SCB were prepared by solution casting and extrusion of filaments was done on single screw extruder. The filaments that were extruded could then be then easily utilized to come up with samples to be tested using FDM 3D printing. Tensile properties were researched using MTS testing machinery as per ASTM D638 Type V. The findings revealed that the usage of SCB has a great effect on the mechanical behavior of the biocomposites. The presence of solid fillers correspondingly increases the tensile modulus with an increase in the SCB content and therefore, the superior the composite in terms of stiffness the content of rigid fillers. Elongation at the break and tensile strength heavily varied with the load and fiber dispersion with a non-monotonic evolution. Upon comparison of the formulations under study, the PLA/HA/15SCB composite displayed the most desirable mechanical performance, as it concomitantly exhibits enhanced tensile strength, stiffness and ductility. These findings demonstrate that sugarcane bagasse powder can be used as a prospective PLA/HA composite reinforcer, and it can be used to fabricate bone scaffolds based on FDM 3D printing.