Fabrication of 3-D Porous Mg/Zn doped Tricalcium Phosphate Bone-Scaffolds via the Fused Deposition Modelling

Three dimensionally interconnected porous resorbable beta-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) ceramic scaffolds were developed using the indirect fused deposition modelling process. β-TCP was doped with Mg and Zn, separately, to improve its sintering kinetics and facilitate fabrication of viable porous scaffolds. Effects of Mg and Zn on sintering kinetics and densification of β-TCP were studied. Fabricated porous scaffolds were tested for their failure strength under uniaxial compressive loading. Results showed that the scaffolds of Mg doped β-TCP possessed higher compression strength than the structures of Zn doped β-TCP. X-ray powder diffraction technique was used to analyze the phase purity and phase transformation.