Excellent Characteristics of Environmentally Friendly 3D-Printed Nasopharyngeal Swabs for Medical Sample Collection

Abstract

3D-printed nasopharyngeal swabs for medical sample collection have been manufactured via additive manufacturing (AM), evaluated, and characterized in the present study. A multi-part component of nasopharyngeal swabs was proposed, in which the swab and handle were manufactured separately to reach sustainable production and environmentally friendly products. The swab was investigated using tensile, flexural, surface roughness, dimensional accuracy, and sample collection testing. The influence of printing parameters and post-curing time treatment on the mechanical properties, surface roughness, and dimensional accuracy of 3D-printed nasopharyngeal swabs were also evaluated. The result showed that 3D-printed nasopharyngeal swab shows outstanding tensile strength compared to the commercial flock nasopharyngeal swab. Moreover, the swab neck flexibility test showed that both PLA and dental non-castable 3D-printed nasopharyngeal swabs were able to bend 180°. Subsequently, the surface roughness of 3D-printed nasopharyngeal swab was identic with the commercial flock nasopharyngeal swab. The proposed 3D-printed nasopharyngeal swab design could carry an artificial mucus sample of 141.6 mg at a viscosity of 9455.4 mPa.s. The cost to fabricate a 3D-printed nasopharyngeal swab was estimated at USD0.01–0.02 per swab. 3D-printed nasopharyngeal swab shows potential as a feasible option, greener, less medical waste, and more sustainable.

Extreme roughness reduction and ultrafine quality of innovative dual function material extrusion 3D printer

“…Most additive manufacturing processes are sliced from computer-aided design models and then converted in computer-aided machining software into layer-bylayer models to form 3D parts (Taufik and Jain, 2013). It has been proved that additive manufacturing can produce complex parts faster than conventional methods and the ability to mix the material with others, such as fillers (Erlangga et al, 2024;Mamba'udin et al, 2023;Nugraha et al, 2022Nugraha et al, , 2024. It is suitable in almost any industry, such as mechanical, construction, medical, robotics, sports and any sector, including academic research (Dörfler et al, 2022;Malik et al, 2024;Muflikhun and Sentanu, 2021;Nugraha et al, 2023).…”

“…It has been proved that additive manufacturing can produce complex parts faster than conventional methods and the ability to mix the material with others, such as fillers (Erlangga et al. , 2024; Mamba’udin et al. , 2023; Nugraha et al.…”