Polymers for additive manufacturing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021070987-A1
Application number	US-201816643422-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 31, 2018
Priority date	Sep 1, 2017
Publication date	Mar 11, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

Porous and microporous parts prepared by additive manufacturing as disclosed herein are useful in medical and non-medical applications. The parts are prepared from a composition containing both a solvent soluble component and a solvent insoluble component. After a part is printed by an additive manufacturing process it is exposed to solvent to extract solvent soluble component away from the printed part, resulting in a part having surface cavities.

First claim

1 . A composition comprising an additive in a polymer phase, wherein:
a) the additive is soluble in a solvent; b) the polymer phase comprises an organic polymer and is essentially insoluble in the solvent; c) the composition is a solid at temperatures below 25° C. and a viscous fluid with a Melt Flow Index of 2.5-30 g/10 min at a temperature above 50° C.; and d) the composition has a weight percent of the additive based on the weight of the composition and a weight percent of the polymer phase based on the weight of the composition, where the sum of the weight percent of the additive and the weight percent of the polymer phase is greater than 90%.

2 . The composition of claim 1 in a form of a monofilament.

3 . The composition of claim 2 wherein the monofilament is an undrawn monofilament.

4 . The composition of claim 2 wherein the monofilament has an orientation factor of less than 50%.

5 . The composition of claim 2 wherein the monofilament has a diameter of 1-5 mm.

6 . (canceled)

7 . (canceled)

8 . The composition of claim 1 in a form of a powder or granule.

9 . The composition of claim 1 wherein the additive comprises an inorganic salt.

10 . The composition of claim 1 wherein the additive comprises a water-soluble organic compound.

11 . The composition of claim 10 wherein the water-soluble organic compound is polyethyeleneglycol.

12 . The composition of claim 1 wherein the polymer phase comprises a bioabsorbable polymer.

13 . The composition of claim 12 wherein the polymer phase comprises a bioabsorbable polymer comprising segments selected from polyester, polyanhydride, poly(hydroxybutyrate) and polyether.

14 . The composition of claim 1 wherein the polymer phase comprises a non-bioabsorbable polymer.

15 . The composition of claim 12 wherein the polymer phase comprises a non-bioabsorbable polymer selected from polyethylene, nylon, thermoplastic polyurethane, polypropylene, polyetheretherketone, polyaryletherketone and polyethylene terephthalate.

16 . The composition of claim 1 wherein the weight percent of the additive in the composition is 1-60%.

17 . The composition of claim 1 where the solvent is water, the additive is soluble in water and the polymer phase is insoluble in water.

18 . An assembly comprising the monofilament of claim 2 and further comprising a spool, where the monofilament is wrapped around the spool.

19 . (canceled)

20 . A method of forming a composition of claim 2 comprising:
a) combining the additive and the polymer phase to form a composition;
b) heating the composition to form a molten composition;
c) extruding the molten composition to form an undrawn monofilament; and
d) sterilizing the undrawn monofilament.

21 . A method of forming an assembly of claim 18 comprising:
a) providing a composition according to claim 1 in a molten form;
b) extruding the molten form of the composition to form an undrawn monofilament;
c) winding the undrawn monofilament onto a spool; and
d) packaging the spool with monofilament wound thereon.

22 . A method of additive manufacturing, the method comprising:
a) melting a solid composition to provide a molten composition, the molten composition comprising an additive and a polymer phase according to claim 1 ; b) performing additive manufacturing to form an article from the molten composition; and c) contacting the article with a solvent, where the additive is soluble in the solvent, under conditions which at least partially dissolves the additive but not the polymer phase, to form a porous form of the article.

23 . (canceled)

24 . (canceled)

25 . (canceled)

26 . (canceled)

27 . (canceled)

28 . (canceled)

29 . A method of additive manufacturing, the method comprising:
a) providing a composition comprising an additive in a polymer phase according to claim 1 ; b) extruding the composition into a monofilament fiber; c) melting the monofilament fiber to provide a molten composition; d) performing additive manufacturing to form an article from the molten composition; e) contacting the article with a solvent, where the additive is soluble in the solvent, under conditions which at least partially dissolves the additive but not the polymer phase, to form a porous form of the article; and
removing solvent from the porous form of the article such that any residual solvent is less than one weight percent based on the weight of the porous form of the article.

Assignees

• Poly Med Inc

Inventors

• Taylor Michael Scott
• Hyde James
• Gaerke Brian
• Johns Brad
• Vaughn Michael Aaron
• Mccullen Seth Dylan
• Gravett David

Classifications

• B33Y70/10

  Composites of different types of material, e.g. mixtures of ceramics and polymers or mixtures of metals and biomaterials · CPC title

• B33Y70/00

  Materials specially adapted for additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B29K2101/12

  Thermoplastic materials · CPC title

• B33Y10/00

  Processes of additive manufacturing · CPC title

• C08L71/02 Primary

  Polyalkylene oxides · CPC title