Poly-lactic-acid: Potential material for bio-printing applications

Abstract

Exclusive research efforts, made across the world, in the area of material science have resulted into development of a wide range of materials which could be successfully used for numerous biomedical applications. Poly-lactic-acid (PLA) is one of these developments which could be brought in direct contact of the tissues/ organs, as a medical device and support structure. For the benefit of the research scholars, this chapter is structured to review the prospective biomedical implications of PLA material, explored in the last 20 years. Further, the efficacy of PLA with different types of three-dimensional printing (3DP) technologies, especially for fused deposition modeling, is also highlighted in response of the mechanical, biological, and topological characteristics of resulting parts. Further, the printing of waste natural fiber embedded PLA structures has experimented, as a case study, via fused deposition modeling.