Progress in Additive Manufacturing Methods of PLA-Magnesium Polymer Biocomposites for Biomedical Applications Supplemented by Patent Landscape Analysis

Polylactic Acid (PLA) is a biopolymer derived from renewable sources and is the most used polymeric material for biomedical applications. Magnesium and its alloys are the favorites as far as biomedical applications such as tissue engineering, scaffold and implants manufacturing and bone regeneration are concerned. However, the degradation of implant materials is one of the important factors to be considered during their choice. Incorporating magnesium in any form into the polymeric PLA will aid in improving the applicability of PLA-based biocomposites in many biomedical applications due to the significant influence of the Mg over the degradation behavior of the PLA biocomposites. Additive manufacturing (AM) techniques are the state-of-the-art methods developed lately and are widely used for developing various application materials owing to its dimensional accuracy. PLA -based materials are the common filaments used in AM techniques owing to their high compatibility and print quality. The prospects of using Mg filled PLA filaments to fabricate artificial body parts and supports has been studied lately by various researchers. This comprehensive review deals with the various additive manufacturing methods of PLA-Mg composites for biomedical applications, mechanical and biodegradable properties, biomedical applications of the PLA-Mg biocomposites and envisaging the prospects of the PLA/Mg biocomposite materials through patent landscape analysis.