Bioceramic-Carbon Composite Scaffolds from Masked Stereolithography of Silicone-based Blends
HAMADA E. 1, FRANCO MATIAS S. 2, ELISA C. 1, BERNARDO E. 1
1 Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, Padova, Italy; 2 CETMIC, La Plata, Argentina
Silicone resins are attractive both as precursors of silicate bioceramics and as feedstock for additive manufacturing technologies, including stereolithography. The two aspects may be successfully combined operating with simple silicone-based blends, consisting of a silicone polymer mixed with photocurable acrylates. The inclusion of calcium, magnesium and sodium salts, in nanoemulsion within the silicone-containing blend, enables the obtainment of homogeneous printed scaffolds. In fact, the printing resolution is favored by the adoption of a fully liquid precursor. The firing in N2 atmosphere determines the inclusion of pyrolytic carbon in a silicate matrix, semi-crystalline (e.g. featuring wollastonite and diopside crystal inclusions) or even fully amorphous, for heat treatments at low temperature (700 °C). In the latter case, the chemical composition of the matrices resembles that of widely recognized bioglasses (e.g. 70 mol% SiO2-30% CaO or 50 mol% SiO2-25% CaO-25% Na2O). The carbon phase is intended to promote rapid and intense heating simply by absorption of IR light, useful for disinfection purposes. Preliminary results on biocompatibility and bioactivity of selected samples will be presented.