View Article |
Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) Hydrophilic Behaviour of Porosity Condition for 3DPrinted Medical Splinting Devices
Abdraman Hassan Malloum1, Muhammad Aiman Ahmad Fozi2, Mohd Zamzuri Mohammad Zain3, Muhammad Hasnulhadi Mohammad Jaafar4, Mohd Azaman Md Deros5.
The splint is one of the methods used to treat misalignment, deformations, broken limbs, and others. The breathable condition for splinting is essential for reducing the implications of the contact between human skin and the splint itself. Previous splinting fabrication apparatus in a local hospital used low thermoplastic material with no porosity. This material cannot provide breathable conditions for human skin due to low porosity. Low thermoplastic material without porosity will cause implications such as itchiness, sweats, and uncomfortable circumstances. To overcome the problem of low porosity, a new material with sufficient porosity needs to be developed. Nowadays, the use of 3D printing is increasing in medical sectors where customized items are the best solution to fit the differences of human anthropometry. Therefore, new materials such as Polylactic Acid (PLA) and Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) are being developed to suit the needs of particular applications. In this study, PLA/PVA melt bending method is applied to fabricate 3D printed medical splinting devices. The physical, mechanical and morphology properties are also investigated. The results revealed that a porous structure was successfully formed by mixing PLA with various volume fractions of PVA. The porosity of PLA sample before mix blending was found to be 3.57%, and increased to 18.52%, 33.3% and 37.0% as the volume fraction of PVA is increased to 30,40 and 50 respectively. The tensile results show that the force increased with increase in PVA percentage and the highest force recorded for the sample of 30% was 52.1 N. The 3D printer successfully printed the composite finger splint device. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of transforming biodegradable PLA into porous products, contributing to better medical splint appliances and additive manufacturing players in Malaysia.
Affiliation:
- Universiti Malaysia Perlis,, Malaysia
- Universiti Malaysia Perlis,, Malaysia
- Universiti Malaysia Perlis,, Malaysia
- Universiti Malaysia Perlis,, Malaysia
- Universiti Malaysia Perlis,, Malaysia
Download this article (This article has been downloaded 25 time(s))
|
|
Indexation |
Indexed by |
MyJurnal (2021) |
H-Index
|
1 |
Immediacy Index
|
0.000 |
Rank |
0 |
|
|
|