This study investigates the thermal, mechanical, and photothermal‐driven shape memory properties of 3D‐printed polydopamine (PDA) and polylactic acid (PLA) blends in the context of 4D printing. Homemade PDA particles were… Click to show full abstract
This study investigates the thermal, mechanical, and photothermal‐driven shape memory properties of 3D‐printed polydopamine (PDA) and polylactic acid (PLA) blends in the context of 4D printing. Homemade PDA particles were incorporated into the PLA matrix via melt blending, and 4D printing was performed using fused deposition modeling (FDM) to fabricate PLA composite parts with superior shape memory and mechanical properties. These properties enable remote light‐driven actuation, achieving up to 70% shape recovery within 300 s. Increased laser power density to three times the original, the shape recovery time was shortened from 420 s to 180 s. Furthermore, the incorporation of PDA improved the material's surface wettability. Specifically, the water contact angle of pure PLA was 83.2° at 20 s, whereas the addition of 3 wt% PDA reduced it to 51.8°. These results suggest the potential application of the composite material as a scaffold for bone tissue engineering.
               
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