Study on performance regulation of electro-mechanical properties 3D printed BaTiO3/HA porous structure composite ceramic

BaTiO 3 /Ca 10 (PO 4 ) 6 (OH) 2 composite ceramic is an outstanding representative of piezoelectric biomaterials, with excellent biocompatibility and piezoelectric effect, and has potential applications in the field of bone tissue repair. In this work, vat photopolymerization 3D printing technology was used to fabricate triply periodic minimal surface structure BaTiO 3 /Ca 10 (PO 4 ) 6 (OH) 2 composite ceramic bone tissue scaffolds with different pore sizes and porosity, and their mechanical and electrical properties were studied. First, the ceramic slurry configuration process was optimized to obtain a ceramic slurry with high solid content (45 vol%) and excellent rheological properties. Then the effect of sintering temperature on microstructure, relative density, mechanical properties, and electrical properties is discussed. The results show that when sintering at 1300 °C, the BaTiO 3 /Ca 10 (PO 4 ) 6 (OH) 2 composite ceramic has the highest relative density (99.18 %), the highest compressive strength (44 MPa), large relative dielectric constant (379–389), and low dielectric loss. The polarization electric field strength of the BaTiO 3 /Ca 10 (PO 4 ) 6 (OH) 2 composite ceramic was set to 15 kV/cm through the test of the hysteresis loop. Finally, based on multi-physics coupled finite element simulation, the effects of different porosity and different pore sizes on stress distribution and piezoelectric potential were analyzed, and the relationship between them was explored through experiments. The results show that as the porosity increases and the pore size decreases, the mechanical properties of the scaffold decrease significantly, and its compressive strength ranges between 1.67 and 4.26 MPa; as the porosity increases and the pore size increases, the piezoelectric coefficient ( d 33 ) of the scaffold showed a decreasing trend, and its d 33 ranged between 2 and 9 pC/N. The mechanical and electrical properties of the scaffold meet the performance requirements of cancellous bone. In summary, this work provides a strategy for the application of customized BaTiO 3 /Ca 10 (PO 4 ) 6 (OH) 2 composite ceramic scaffolds in new-generation orthopedic implants.