The Study of Water Content in 3D-Printed Ink Synthesis for Bone Scaffolds Printing

This research aimed to synthesize the 3D-printed ink from hydroxyapatite for bone scaffold.
The 3D-printed ink was prepared from hydroxyapatite using titanium dioxide as an additive material.
The hydroxyapatite was synthesized from eggshells by precipitation technique. The hydroxyapatite and titanium dioxide were studied the crystal structure by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that the crystal structure of hydroxyapatite was a hexagonal structure while titanium dioxide has
an anatase phase. Then, the 3D-printed ink was prepared from a mixing of hydroxyapatite powder and titanium dioxide powder with a ratio of 95:5 by ball milling technique. The mixer was mixed with a water at different percent by weights from 93, 95, and 97. The crystal structure of 3D-printed ink was studied by XRD. The results showed that the 3D-printed ink still shows the hydroxyapatite phase and titanium dioxide phase. After that, the 3D-printed inks with different water content were extruded from a nozzle with a diameter of 2 mm. The 3D-printed filament was taken photographs and measured the diameter through ImageJ software. The results showed that the diameter of 3D-printed filaments with different water content had different values with no significance. Then, all 3D-printed inks were printed to a cubic-shaped scaffold by 3D printer. The results showed that the 3D-printed ink with 95 percent weight of water content showed a completely cubic-shaped scaffold printing. All cubic-shaped scaffolds were tested compressive strength by the Universal testing machine. The results showed that the 3D-printed ink with 95 percent weight of water content showed the highest compressive strength. This research indicated that the 3D-printed ink from hydroxyapatite using an additive from titanium dioxide with 95 percent weight of water content can successfully synthesize and print the bone scaffold.