Additive manufacturing of hydroxyapatite-based composites for bioengineering applications

Hydroxyapatite (HA) is a promising support structure for tissue engineering that has considerably gained a lot of interest in recent years due to its potential applications in the biomedical industry and biocompatibility characteristics to make easier proliferation and cellular growth tissue implants in patient. Different materials, notably heterogeneous biomaterials characterized as matrix material and strengthening materials have recently been suggested as materials that can be utilized to produce scaffolds with better bioactive features. Depending on the chemical resemblance of HA with inorganic cultural and biological mineralized structures, considerable innovations have been devoted to hydroxyapatite (HA)-reinforced materials, mainly focusing on bone tissue development. To produce artificial porous bone in structure is challenging with conventional processes. Additive manufacturing (AM) offers a precise, reproductive, and accurate approach to fabricating complex and functional geometry of biomedical materials such as internal microporous structures in a layer-by-layer fashion from three-dimensional models. The present review identified the recent development of AM methods in producing HA-reinforced composite and biocomposites materials such as cellular components. It highlighted and reviewed different AM technologies used in the fabrication of HA and its composite materials and mechanical properties of HA scaffold produced by AM. The reviewed study present a comprehensive overview of the discussed technologies and suggestions for future perspectives to provide a comprehensive view of the techniques explored and complexities in this evolving field.