Ceramic stereolithography (SLA) is a 3D printing technology that offers one of the highest resolutions currently available. SLA is particularly suitable for the design of bone substitutes which must have a very complex geometric shape and an interconnected macroporous internal structure, ideally architected.
Calcium phosphate powders (in particular hydroxyapatite HA and beta-tricalcium phosphate b-TCP) are widely studied and used for bone tissue engineering applications because of their excellent biological properties (osteoinduction and osteoconduction) and because they are chemically similar to the mineral structure of bone.
However, while there are only a few commercial suspensions of HA or b-TCP suitable for SLA, there is no development of photosensitive resin incorporating a biphasic HA/b-TCP mixture, which would be of great interest for the manufacture of bone substitutes, particularly for managing degradation rates. However, the problem of sintering such a biphasic material remains to be managed, as the b-TCP cannot be densified at more than 1125°C to avoid the transformation of the beta phase into the alpha phase. In this work, two-phase powders comprising magnesium-doped b-TCP, which is more thermally stable, are studied.