Abstract
This study explores the fabrication and characterisation of 3D-printed polylactic acid (PLA) scaffolds reinforced with calcium hydroxyapatite (cHAP) for bone tissue engineering applications. By varying the cHAP content, we aimed to enhance PLA scaffolds' mechanical and thermal properties, making them suitable for load-bearing biomedical applications. The results indicate that increasing cHAP content improves the tensile and compressive strength of the scaffolds, although it also increases brittleness. Notably, incorporating cHAP at 7.5% and 10% significantly enhances thermal stability and mechanical performance, with properties comparable to or exceeding those of human cancellous bone. Furthermore, this study integrates machine learning techniques to predict the mechanical properties of these composites, employing algorithms such as XGBoost and AdaBoost. The models demonstrated high predictive accuracy, with R(2) scores of 0.9173 and 0.8772 for compressive and tensile strength, respectively. These findings highlight the potential of using data-driven approaches to optimise material properties autonomously, offering significant implications for developing custom-tailored scaffolds in bone tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The study underscores the promise of PLA/cHAP composites as viable candidates for advanced biomedical applications, particularly in creating patient-specific implants with improved mechanical and thermal characteristics.