Stereolithographic Ceramic Manufacturing of High Strength Bioactive Glass

Bioactive glasses and glass ceramics like the 45S5 formulation have been studied toward biocompatibility and biodegradability for years. Nevertheless, clinical applications as bone substitute or scaffold material are highly limited because of the often poor mechanical behavior of bioactive glasses. In this study, we are able to provide a new production alternative for 45S5 bioactive glass structures resulting in parts with high density and strength. Using the stereolithographic ceramic manufacturing ( SLCM ) process, it is possible to additively produce solid bulk glass ceramics as well as delicate scaffold structures. Recent developments in SLCM slurry preparation together with an appropriate selection of raw materials led to 3D parts with a very homogeneous microstructure and a density of about 2.7 g/cm³. Due to the low number and small size of defects, a high biaxial bending strength of 124 MPa was achieved. Weibull distribution also underlines good process control showing a Weibull modulus of 8.6 and a characteristic strength of 131 MPa for the samples tested here. By reaching bending strength values of natural cortical bone, bioactive glasses processed with SLCM could eventually advance to be an interesting bone substitute material even in load‐bearing applications, valuing the huge efforts undertaken to understand their bioactive behavior.