Investigating How Print Parameters Drive Interfacial Failure in 3D Printed Medical Prosthetics

Interfacial delamination is a critical failure mode of 3D printed polymer prosthetics and is driven by residual strain formation during fabrication. However, the mechanical response of these interfacial strains, which are highly sensitive to printing parameters, are poorly understood which is essential to optimise material fabrication. Using in-situ X-ray scattering we have developed a proof-of-principle approach to visualise interfacial strains stored within the polymer network structure of 3D printed test specimens. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of this approach to visualise polymer strains at high spatial resolutions in photo-cured materials. We now aim to extend the relevance of this work towards clinically based additive manufacturing to determine how parameters such as print angle and layer thickness impact the magnitude and vector of interfacial strains.