Optimization of Mechanical Properties in Biomedical-Grade Polylactic Acid (PLA) Components Fabricated Via Fuzed Filament Fabrication (FFF)

Abstract

The growing demand for personalized biomedical devices positions polylactic acid (PLA) as a useful material because it is biodegradable and biocompatible while being easily processed by additive manufacturing. This study seeks toward optimization of key process parameters in fuzed filament fabrication (FFF). Improving the mechanical integrity and adaptability of biomedical-grade PLA components is the goal. Researchers systematically designed experiments that evaluated how four critical FFF parameters, layer thickness, wall thickness, infill density, along with infill pattern, influence tensile strength and fatigue life. For fabricated PLA specimens, standardized tensile tests in addition to low-cycle fatigue tests were used through varying combinations regarding these parameters. The results demonstrated that a layer that was 0.3 mm thick greatly improved fatigue life (1099 cycles) as well as tensile strength (39.8 MPa), while thinner layers performed worse. Wall thicknesses upto 3 mm improved fatigue performance however tensile strength gains lessened with later increases. At the 0.75 infill density, the mechanical performance was optimal (fatigue life: 1070 cycles, tensile strength: 39.6 MPa) but lower densities decreased durability. The grid structure has provided for the best balance between the strength and the fatigue resistance among all the infill patterns. It had better performance than Tri-hexagon and gyroid structures. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), that is a statistical validation, confirmed the importance of layer thickness and infill density for the mechanical outcomes at p < 0.0001. These findings suggest PLA components suitable for load bearing and bioresorbable medical applications can be yielded by careful tuning of FFF parameters. The researchers did study the issue for laying the groundwork. Engineers are allowed by this work to develop smart, patient-specific PLA composites later in biomedical engineering.