3D Printing of Bioplastics for Medical Applications

Bioplastics owing to their versatility, biodegradability, and biocompatibility have not only become indispensable and potentially formidable alternatives to synthetic thermoplastics in general but have also become specifically relevant to medical applications like tissue engineering and drug delivery applications by virtue of their biofunctional attributes. The fabrication of these medical products may involve complex intricate designs to mimic native tissues and may require computerized geometrics wherein 3D printing, a promising technology from the basket of the industry 4.0 can be beneficial. In this article, the preparation, structure, properties, and application of different kinds of bioplastics such as Polylactic Acid (PLA), Poly (3-Hydroxy Butyrate) (PHB), Polycaprolactone (PCL), Polysaccharides, Proteins and so forth are discussed briefly. This review paper is an attempt to comprehensively accommodate the various 3D printing technologies, such as Stereolithography (SLA), Direct Ink Writing (DIW), 3D Bioprinting and so forth, with particular reference to bioplastics used in medical applications. The potential biomedical applications such as tissue engineering, efficient drug delivery, scaffold fabrication etc., using additive manufactured bioplastics are highlighted. In addition, the current technical challenges and further prospectives to the development of additive manufactured biomedical products based on bioplastics has been critically discussed.