Nylon—A material introduction and overview for biomedical applications

• Published in: Polymers for advanced technologies Vol. 32; no. 9; pp. 3368 - 3383
• Main Authors: Shakiba, Mohamadreza, Rezvani Ghomi, Erfan, Khosravi, Fatemeh, Jouybar, Shirzad, Bigham, Ashkan, Zare, Mina, Abdouss, Majid, Moaref, Roxana, Ramakrishna, Seeram
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.09.2021; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: 3D printing; Antiinfectives and antibacterials; Biocompatibility; biomaterial; biomedical applications; Biomedical materials; Catheters; Dental materials; Dentures; Literature reviews; Mechanical properties; Mold dressing; Nylon; Prostheses; Three dimensional printing; Tissue engineering
• ISSN: 1042-7147; 1099-1581
• DOI: 10.1002/pat.5372

Nylon is a human‐made material and has been applied in many industrial fields. This literature review explores the use of nylon in biomedical applications and discusses the properties and three‐dimensional (3D) printability of this material. Nylon is studied due to its versatility as an engineering plastic that can be easily transformed into fibers, films, and molded parts. Due to nylon's biocompatible nature, it has desirable chemical stability and tunable mechanical properties making this material and its derivatives widely used as sutures, catheters, dentures, and so on. However, the interactions between nylon and human body tissues have yet to be fully understood. Nevertheless, nylon is hybridized with different materials and used as skin dressings. In recent years, nylon composites have been actively researched in tissue engineering as an alternative to metallic implants with an appropriate bioactivity potential for bone growth. As nylon is supposed to be in contact with the tissue for a long time, hence researchers are developing antimicrobial strategies for the nylon materials to even promote their potential a step further. The 3D printing of nylon is currently confined to specific applications due to the printing technology's current limitations.