Mechanical properties of 3D printed mouthguards: Influence of layer height and device thickness

Abstract Mouthguards are polymeric devices recommended to be used by athletes help prevent orofacial injuries. Some of the problems described when using mouthguards can addressed producing customized with thinner walls additive processing techniques. In present work, new materials for this application, such as poly(lactic acid) (rPLA) recycled from food packaging, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), high impact polystyrene (HIPS), and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), proposed preparation protective mouthguards, in alternative ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer, current gold standard. Specimens were printed two different thicknesses (2 mm 4 mm) study their influence on final properties samples. The characterization included chemical, thermal, surface, mechanical aspects commercially acquired filaments components. All studied showed a decrease strength increasing specimen thickness, except TPU due its highest deformation capacity. Compared EVA, has similar energy absorption, while other polymers presented higher values.