A study of tensile and bending properties of 3D-printed biocompatible materials used in dental appliances

Abstract

In the last years, a large number of new biocompatible materials for 3D printers have emerged. Due to their recent appearance and rapid growth, there is little information about their mechanical properties. The design and manufacturing of oral appliances made with 3D printing technologies require knowledge of the mechanical properties of the biocompatible material used to achieve optimal performance for each application. This paper focuses on analysing the mechanical behaviour of a wide range of biocompatible materials using different additive manufacturing technologies. To this end, tensile and bending tests on different types of recent biocompatible materials used with 3D printers were conducted to evaluate the influence of the material, 3D printing technology, and printing orientation on the fragile/ductile behaviour of the manufactured devices. A test bench was used to perform tensile tests according to ASTM D638 and bending tests according to ISO 178. The specimens were manufactured with nine different materials and five manufacturing technologies. Furthermore, specimens were created with different printing technologies, biocompatible materials, and printing orientations. The maximum allowable stress, rupture stress, flexural modulus, and deformation in each of the tested specimens were recorded. Results suggest that specimens manufactured with Stereolithography (SLA) and milling (polymethyl methacrylate PMMA) achieved high maximum allowable and rupture stress values. It was also observed that Polyjet printing and Selective Laser Sintering technologies led to load–displacement curves with low maximum stress and high deformation values. Specimens manufactured with Digital Light Processing technology showed intermediate and homogeneous performance. Finally, it was observed that the printing direction significantly influences the mechanical properties of the manufactured specimens in some cases.

Compressive and Flexural Strength of 3D-Printed and Conventional Resins Designated for Interim Fixed Dental Prostheses: An In Vitro Comparison

“…Although manufacture/fabrication by additive technologies can be recommended for both tooth-and implant-supported interim fixed prostheses [59], new interim 3D printing dental materials need to be further investigated in regard to their accuracy, reproducibility, mechanical properties, and long-term behavior [59,60]. Dentistry is continuously evolving, embracing the use of the latest technologies [60], and additive manufacturing is an emerging methodology that provides a cost-effective solution in dentistry [59]. Due to their rapid growth, there is a reduced amount of data regarding the mechanical properties of 3Dprinted interim prosthetic materials [59].…”

Influence of 3D printing technological parameter number of shells on selected mechanical properties in FDM/FFF technology

“…In the case of layer thickness, the bending strength values decreased as they increased. In the next article (García Reyes et al, 2022) the authors concentrated on the analysis of the mechanical behaviour of selected biocompatible materials manufactured by an additive technology. The samples were manufactured with various technologies (DLP, SLA, SLS, PJM, milling (polymethyl methacrylate PMMA) and subjected to bending and tensile tests; maximum allowable stress, the breaking stress, bending modulus, and strain were measured.…”