3D bioprinting with cell containing bioinks show great promise in the biofabrication of patient specific tissue constructs. To fulfil the multiple requirements of a bioink, a wide range of materials and bioink composition are being developed and evaluated with regard to cell viability, mechanical performance and printability. It is essential that the printability and printing fidelity is not neglected since failure in printing the targeted architecture may be catastrophic for the survival of the cells and consequently the function of the printed tissue. However, experimental evaluation of bioinks printability is time-consuming and must be kept at a minimum, especially when 3D bioprinting with cells that are valuable and costly. This paper demonstrates how experimental evaluation could be complemented with computer based simulations to evaluate newly developed bioinks. Here, a computational fluid dynamics simulation tool was used to study the influence of different printing parameters and evaluate the predictability of the printing process. Based on data from oscillation frequency measurements of the evaluated bioinks, a full stress rheology model was used, where the viscoelastic behaviour of the material was captured. Simulation of the 3D bioprinting process is a powerful tool and will help in reducing the time and cost in the development and evaluation of bioinks. Moreover, it gives the opportunity to isolate parameters such as printing speed, nozzle height, flow rate and printing path to study their influence on the printing fidelity and the viscoelastic stresses within the bioink. The ability to study these features more extensively by simulating the printing process will result in a better understanding of what influences the viability of cells in 3D bioprinted tissue constructs.

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Utilizing energy storage technologies is beneficial for bridging the gap between supply and demand of energy and for increasing the share of renewable energy in the energy system. Phase change materials (PCMs) offer higher energy density and compact storage design compared to conventional sensible heat storage materials. Over the past years, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) has gained attention in the PCM field, and several new composites of PEGs have been developed for thermal energy storage purposes. PCMs are investigated at a given heating/cooling rate to evaluate their phase change temperature and enthalpy. In the case of PEG, some molecular weights show a melting behavior that depends on the thermal history, such as the crystallization conditions. This study investigates the relationship between the molecular weights of PEGs (400−6000 g/mol), cooling/heating rates, and the behavior during phase transitions, to evaluate the performance of PEGs as a PCM under various thermal conditions. Experiments were performed using differential scanning calorimeter and the transient plane source method. All PEG molecular weights were subjected to the same cooling and heating conditions, cooling and heating rate, and number of cycles, to decouple the thermal effects from molecular weight effects. The behavior of phase transition for different thermal conditions was thoroughly analyzed and discussed. It was found that the melting temperature range of PEGs with different molecular weight was between 5.8 and 62 °C (at 5 °C/min). Each PEG showed unique responses to the cooling and heating rates. Generally, the behavior of the crystallization changed most between the thermal cycles, while the melting peak was stable regardless of the molecular weight. Finally, it is recommended that the characterization of PEGs and their composites should be conducted at a heating and cooling rate close to the thermal conditions of the intended thermal energy storage application.

We develop a numerical framework for simulating the coalescence and jumping of microdroplets on superhydrophobic surfaces. The framework combines the volume of fluid (VOF) method with models for advancing and receding contact angles on a number of superhydrophobic surfaces. We demonstrate the temporal and spatial convergence of the framework and show agreement between our numerical results and other experimental studies. The capillaryinertial scaling is investigated together with the existence of a cut-off behaviour frequently observed in the lower size-range of that regime. We investigate findings in some of the previous studies that the cut-off behaviour can be attributed to viscosity effects and dissipation due to interaction with surface microstructures. We exemplify specific features related to the jumping process and the corresponding energy budget analysis when microdroplets coalesce and jump. We have tested droplets of a radius as small as 0.5 μm that are still jumping but recorded a decrease in the jumping velocity and the degree of energy conversion compared to the jumping of larger droplets. We argue and prove that strong capillary forces originating from the high curvature oscillations dissipate the energy of the system significantly faster in the case of microdroplets.

Droplets coalesce and jump from superhydrophobic surfaces, a result that stems from the dominance of capillary and inertial forces and the presence of high contact angles. This phenomenon has been a subject of intensive numerical research mostly for cases when the degree of hydrophobicity is described by a single contact-angle value (a static contact angle). The introduction of various degrees of contact-angle hysteresis complicates the numerical modeling of the jumping process due to the sensitivity to the effective value of the contact angle. We have developed and validated a comprehensive volume-of-fluid(VOF)-immersed boundary numerical framework that accounts for the effect of hysteresis by focusing on the representation of actual values of dynamic contact angles. By comparing the behavior of jumping droplets on superhydrophobic surfaces with several degrees of hysteresis (up to 15o), we quantified the influence of hysteresis on the jumping process and identified various stages of the merged droplet's detachment and re-attachment. The latter phenomena were observed in all our simulations with droplets of different initial radii. In all the cases with hysteresis, the merged droplet eventually jumps, but we point out the decrease in the jumping velocity as compared to cases with only a static contact angle imposed. Finally, by using the Kistler dynamic contact-angle model, we demonstrate the importance of accurately capturing the dynamic receding contact angle when droplets jump from superhydrophobic surfaces with various degrees of hysteresis.

Selective laser melting (SLM) process is a powder bed fusion additive manufacturing process that finds applications in aerospace and medical industries for its ability to produce complex geometry parts. As the raw material used is in powder form, particle size distribution (PSD) is a significant characteristic that influences the build quality in turn affecting the functionality and aesthetics aspects of the product. This paper investigates the effect of PSD on the printed geometry for 316L stainless steel powder, where three coupled in-house simulation tools based on Discrete Element Method (DEM), Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), and Structural Mechanics are employed. DEM is used for simulating the powder bed distribution based on the different powder PSD. The CFD is used as a virtual testbed to determine thermal parameters such as heat capacity and thermal conductivity of the powder bed viewed as a continuum. The values found as a stochastic function of the powder distribution is used to analyse the effect on the melted zone and deformation using Structural Mechanics. Results showed that mean particle size and PSD had a significant effect on the packing density, melt pool layer thickness, and the final layer thickness after deformation. Specifically, a narrow particle size distribution with smaller mean particle size and standard deviation produced solidified final layer thickness closest to nominal layer thickness. The proposed simulation approach and the results will catalyze in development of geometry assurance strategies to minimize the effect of particle size distribution on the geometric quality of the printed part.

Selective laser melting process is a powder bed fusion additive manufacturing process that finds applications in aerospace and medical industries for its ability to produce complex geometry parts. As the raw material used is in powder form, particle size distribution (PSD) is a significant characteristic that influences the build quality in turn affecting the functionality and aesthetics aspects of the end product. This paper investigates the effect of PSD on deformation for 316L stainless steel powder, where three coupled in-house simulation tools based on Discrete Element Method (DEM), Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), and Structural Mechanics are employed. DEM is used for simulating the powder distribution based on the different particle size distribution of the powder. The CFD is used as a virtual test bed to determine thermal parameters such as density, heat capacity and thermal conductivity of the powder bed viewed as a continuum. The values found as a stochastic function of the powder distribution is used to test the sensitivity of the melted zone and distortion using Structural Mechanics. Results showed significant influence of particle size distribution on the packing density, surface height, surface roughness, the stress state and displacement of the melted zone. The results will serve as a catalyst in developing geometry assurance strategies to minimize the effect of particle size distribution on the geometric quality of the printed part.

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