## 6 Implications
### Future Prospects  
To better understand the potential for future research on FDM, researchers conducted a critical literature review to gather information about the manufacturing and maintenance of this hybrid material employing different methods and methodologies. The main goal of this review is to learn about the advancements in creating different PLA/Mg composite mixtures for making implants, with the aim of producing cost-effective and flexible prosthetics using 3D printing. This review looks at articles published in English from 2016 to 2020 that talk about fused deposition modeling and magnesium-polylactic composites to link the use of PLA/Mg as a filament or base material with the growing medical applications of fused deposition modeling [174].  
As a result, plasma functionalization was able to circumvent ZnO's detrimental thermal degradation impact on PLA, paving the way for the additive manufacturing of bioactive scaffolds that hold immense promise for use in tissue engineering projects [162]. A novel fibrous composite material was developed, and its antimicrobial and physicochemical characteristics were studied [175]. The process involves creating the nonwooven fabric and then treating it in two steps: first, soaking the samples in a zinc (II) chloride solution, and second, soaking them in a mixture of alginic sodium salt. Specific surface area, total/average pore volume, and SEM were all used in the characterization and analysis of the new material. To check how well the polylactide/alginate/Zn fibrous composite could fight germs, it was tested on different bacteria, like _Staphylococcus aureus_, _Escherichia coli_, and two kinds of fungi [176]. These findings provide the groundwork for future research into the creation and possible use of a novel composite material with antimicrobial and antifungal properties in the biomedical field [177]. The present investigation aims to close this information gap by assessing how bronze content and 3D printing direction affect the tribological characteristics of the bronze/PLA composite [75].  
Envisage Using the Patent Landscape for PLA Metal Composite  
Patent landscape analysis provides a comprehensive understanding of future growth. While searching, the following options are used: it was searched only on \"English claim\", single family member, and stemming; the count of patents filed is shown in Figure 18. The keywords used were PLA with individual metal analyzed along with \"3D printing\". Figure 18 reveals that the PLA with metal or the alloy of the specific metal composite has favorable growth owing to its contributing to many applications. The researchers can focus on this PLA-metal combination for versatile new uses because only the patent claims are analyzed to ensure inventiveness. Figure 18 indicates the number of patents filed with PLA in combination with metal.  
It was also understood that various patents for different applications were filed in PLA and metal combinations. PLA-based bimetallic polymer materials were developed using copper and aluminum particles and were employed for safe handling and enhanced antimicrobial properties. PLA was combined with synthetic glass powders rich in zinc and magnesium and biofunctionalized composites were developed for scaffold and biofunctional applications.  
Figure 18: Number of patents filed with PLA combined with Metal.