| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
Materials Science & Technology 2011
|
| Symposium
|
Next Generation Biomaterials
|
| Presentation Title |
Preparing PLA Powders for Powder-Based Processing Using a Solvent-Non-Solvent Mediated Technique |
| Author(s) |
Huan Zhou, Sarit B Bhaduri |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Huan Zhou |
| Abstract Scope |
PLA (poly lactic acid) is one of the most frequently investigated biopolymers for various biomedical applications including sutures, implants and in regenerative medicine. Of late, an important fabrication technique for producing complex shapes has emerged: powder-based rapid prototyping. Since PLA is commercially available in the form of pellets instead of loose powders, there is a need for a simple and scalable technique to produce loose PLA powders. This paper reports a new solvent-non-solvent mediated technique for preparing uniform micron-sized PLA powders from pellets. The mechanism of powder formation can be explained by the relative solubility of PLA in the solvent and the non-solvent. The production percentage can be approximately 100% and this process can be easily scaled up to produce large quantities of PLA powders. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Undecided |