3D printed HA ceramic and its composite scaffolds for tissue engineering

Hydroxyapatite (HA) ceramic has gained tremendous attention in tissue engineering owing to its excellent mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and osteoconductivity. In most tissue engineering cases, complex-shaped HA scaffolds are usually needed, which brings great challenges to their manufacturing. Recently, additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, has been widely studied for its fabrication ability of complex-shaped HA ceramic and its composite scaffolds. Herein, this chapter introduces the latest advances of 3D printed HA ceramic and its composite scaffolds, including HA, HA/TCP, and various HA/polymer composite scaffolds. The performances of these scaffolds, including their mechanical properties, and in vitro and in vivo biological behaviors, are further summarized. Finally, the challenges and opportunities involved in this field are discussed and forecasted. It is believed this chapter can give some guidance for researchers or graduate students in the field of 3D printing of bioceramic scaffolds for tissue engineering.