Example 9
A 3D printed mesh was prepared from succinic acid-1,4-butanediol-malic acid copolyester (Tepha lot 180333), with weight average molecular weight of 184 kDa, Tm=115° C., using melt extrusion deposition according to the following method. The mesh was printed using an ARBURG Free-Former machine consisting of a horizontal extruder feeding into a vertical ram extruder fitted with motion controlled needle plunger, 200 micron spinneret nozzle and a movable stage table. The extruder hopper was charged with 1½×3 mm sized polymer pellets with a moisture content of less than 2,000 ppm. The pellets were purged with dry nitrogen in the extruder hopper to maintain dryness. The temperature profile of the extruder was set between 45°-180° C., and the residence time of the polymer in the extrusion system was maintained at less than 15 min/cm. The conditions resulted in the formation of very high quality printed mesh as shown in
