Hydrothermal sintering of 3D-printed beta-tricalcium phosphate/bioactive glass scaffolds: sintering optimization and in vitro cellular evaluation

• Grant number: 23/14247-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date until: June 01, 2024
• End date until: May 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Nonmetallic Materials
• Principal Investigator: Eliandra de Sousa Trichês
• Grantee: Rodrigo Luiz Moraes Saldanha Oliveira
• Supervisor: Edgar Benjamin Montufar Jimenez
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciência e Tecnologia (ICT). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São José dos Campos. São José dos Campos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Brno University of Technology (BUT), Czech Republic
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/05259-9 - B-tricalcium phosphate/S53P4 scaffolds produced by direct ink writing:cold sintering and functionalization with nanoparticles, BP.DR

Abstract

Beta-tricalcium phosphate (beta-TCP) and bioactive glasses (BG) are promising materials in bone regeneration research. Highly bioactive and osteogenic scaffolds can be produced by 3D-printing beta-TCP/BG composites. However, sintering beta-TCP/BG composites is challenging due to the difference in their sintering window and glass crystallization. Reactive Hydrothermal Liquid Phase Sintering (rHLPS) is a low-temperature consolidation method that allows densifying ceramic materials through surface reactions between the ceramic and a sintering media in hydrothermal conditions. Even though rHLPS is an interesting alternative to traditional sintering, it is still underexplored regarding the number of ceramics materials reported. This project proposes exploring the 3D printing of beta-TCP/BG composite scaffolds and their consolidation through rHLPS using simulated body fluid as sintering aid. It is hypothesized that that rHLPS technique will efficiently consolidate the 3D-printed scaffolds at low temperature without jeopardizing the porous structure. Furthermore, it is expected that the resulting scaffolds would have a unique microstructure and outstanding bioactivity due to avoid the high temperature crystallization of the BG, which may outperform the osteogenic capacity of traditional scaffolds.