Our friend Jorge Zuniga (who brought us the Cyborg Beast wrist-powered hand) is involved in clinical testing of antibacterial 3D filament that is used for the 3D printing of partial finger prostheses for war veterans. The patented PLA filament developed in Chile called PLACTIVE contains copper nanoparticles that give it antimicrobial properties. +Jorge Zuniga is there any chance that the printed parts can be heat treated to give them better heat resistance like other PLAs as demonstrated here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZX8eHC7fws ? It would be nice if the devices could also withstand the heat to be cleaned in a dishwasher.
https://www.3dprintingmedia.network/chilean-startup-copper3d-launches-antibacterial-filament-medical-3d-printing-applications/?utm_source=linkedIn&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SocialWarfare
I found this post and I am sure some of you have the answers he needs, so I asked him to share here.
Probably, but it’s hard to say without testing. The annealing process that makes PLA more heat resistant relies on the polymer blend being able to change crystalline state while in the solid phase, which most PLAs can do to some extent, but it depends on the blend/additives. I have no idea whether the copper will affect that or not. My guess is that it should work a bit, but not as well as a blend designed for annealing.
Note that shape/tolerances can change during annealing because the polymer molecules are able to relax and resort themselves a bit as they crystallize. So annealing mechanical parts can be dicey. Printing hot and slow helps avoid distortion during subsequent annealing.
Awesome
it’s been useful a very long time …