Digital light processing-3D printing of thermoset materials with high biodegradability from amino acid-derived acrylamide monomers.

Six acrylamide resins, derived from l-phenylalanine and l-leucine, have been designed for application in DLP printers to obtain biodegradable thermoset polymers. The acrylamide copolymers were prepared under light irradiation at 405 nm and thermal post-curing processes. Low molecular weight poly(ethylene glycol)diacrylate (PEGDA) and N,N-dimethylacrylamide (DMAM), both liquid resins, were used as co-monomers and diluents for the amino acid-derived acrylamide solubilization. The presence of two phenylalanine units and two ester groups in the acrylamide monomer accused a fast degradation rate in hydrolytic medium in 90 days. The residual products leached in the aqueous media proved to be non-cytotoxic, when 3D-printed samples were cultured with osteoblast cells (MG63), which represents an advantage for the safe disposal of printer waste materials. The scaled-up pieces derived from l-phenylalanine and diethyleneglycol, as amino acid-derived acrylamide (named compound C), PEGDA and DMAM, presented high dimensional stability after DLP printing of complex structures used as testing samples. Layers of 50 μm of thickness were well cohesive having isotropic behaviour, as demonstrated with tensile-strain measurements performed in X-Y-Z (plane) directions. The compound C, which contains phenylalanine amino acid, revealed a promising potential to replace non-biodegradable acrylate polymers used in prototyping systems. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.