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ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Development and characterization of polymethyl methacrylate/duck eggshell composite biomaterials for 3D printing

Mochamad Asrofi1* ,  Haris Setyawan1 ,  Muhammad Yusuf1 ,  Revvan Rifada Pradiza2 ,  R. A. Ilyas3 ,  S. M. Sapuan4 ,  Victor Feizal Knight5 ,  Mohd Nor Faiz Norrrahim5 ,  C. D. Midhun Dominic6
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1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Jember, Jember, East Java, Indonesia
2 Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology, Politeknik Internasional Tamansiswa Mojokerto, Mojokerto, East Java, Indonesia
3 Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
4 Advanced Engineering Materials and Composite Research Centre, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
5 Research Centre for Chemical Defence, Defence Research Institute, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
6 Department of Chemistry, Sacred Heart College (Autonomous), Kochi, Kerala, India
BMT, 138 https://doi.org/10.12336/bmt.25.00138
Submitted: 7 August 2025 | Revised: 15 May 2026 | Accepted: 3 June 2026 | Published: 24 June 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). Licensee Biomaterials Translational, USA. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en)
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Abstract

The development of sustainable and environmentally friendly biomaterials has attracted increasing attention for medical and dental applications. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is widespread as a denture base material because of its low cost, biocompatibility, and esthetic properties. However, PMMA exhibits limitations such as surface porosity and relatively weak mechanical properties. In this study, duck eggshell (DES) waste was utilized as a calcium-rich reinforcement to improve the properties of composite biomaterials with PMMA matrix fabricated using 3D printing technology. The development and characterize PMMA/DES composite specifically for fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing applications in denture-related biomaterials is the novelty in this research. PMMA/DES composite filaments with DES contents of 0, 10, 12, and 14 wt% were fabricated through single-screw extrusion followed by FDM 3D printing. The fabricated filaments and printed specimens were characterized through tensile testing, hardness testing, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and X-ray diffraction. The tensile strength improved from 29.42 MPa for pure PMMA to 36.27 MPa with the addition of 14 wt% DES, while the hardness value increased by 24.38 HRB compared to pure PMMA. SEM revealed improved filler dispersion and interfacial bonding at higher DES content. TGA analysis demonstrated enhanced thermal stability, where the 14 wt% DES composite exhibited a decomposition temperature of 320.06°C, higher than that of 0 wt% samples (pure PMMA). Overall, the developed PMMA/ DES composites demonstrate promising potential as environmentally friendly biomaterials for future denture-related applications.

Keywords
Polymethyl methacrylate
Duck eggshell
Fused deposition modeling 3D printing
Mechanical properties
Denture biomaterials
Funding
This research was financially supported by Universitas Jember, Indonesia, under the International Research Collaboration Scheme (Contract No. 3165/ UN25.3.1/LT/2024).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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