Direct Ink Writing Extruders for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

GENE LIAO is currently Director of the Electric-drive Vehicle Engineering and Alternative Energy Technology programs and Professor at Wayne State University. He received a M.S. in mechanical engineering from Columbia University, and a doctor of engineering from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has over 17 years of industrial practices in the automotive sector prior to becoming a faculty member. Dr. Liao has research and teaching interests in the areas of hybrid vehicles, energy storage, and advanced manufacturing. Prof Direct Ink Writing Extruders for Biomedical Applications AbstractThere are many 3D printing processes using various printing materials for different applications.Among these printing methods, robocasting or direct ink writing (DIW) is suitable and mostly adopted for biology and biomedical applications. DIW is an additive manufacturing technique in which a filament of 'ink' is extruded from a nozzle. The ink is usually supplied through a syringe or container and does not need to be heated to a high temperature to extrude through the nozzle for printing. Therefore, cells and bacteria can survive during the printing process. The ink must have high viscosity or be gel-like to maintain the sturdy structure for the printed object before post-processing. Several professional DIW printers designed for biomedical and medical research are available in the market such as EnvisionTEC 3D-Bioplotter, however they are usually extremely expensive. Collaborating with the medical school, this project will design and build new extruding systems on a low-cost RepRap machine. One RepRap Prusa i3 printer is modified able to extrude independently two different hydro-gels dedicated to the stem cell research. The modification is expected to utilize other 3D printing methods to create parts. This is a team's Capstone Design Project with students involved to promote and extend the applications of 3D printing. Student working processes of design, hardware modification, as well as testing procedures will be observed and recorded. The project activities, the testing results, and the students' learning experiences and outcomes will be present in this paper. Student working processes of design, hardware modification, as well as programing procedures are observed and evaluated for systematic course material development.

Design of an innovative new extrusion system for a printing machine for ceramics

“…The ink is usually supplied through a syringe or container and does not need to be heated to a high temperature to be extruded through the nozzle for printing. Therefore, cells and bacteria can survive during the printing process, making DIW suitable and widely adopted for biology and biomedical applications [31]. According to the literature review [4,30,32,33], 3D printing extrusion machines for ceramic paste or ink can be categorized into three constructive designs, namely plunger-based, screw-based and pump-based extrusions machines.…”

“…A double extruder is available as an option. However, they are usually expensive [31]. On the low-cost printer side, the Zmorph VX multi-function 3D printer [37] has many features, thanks to its interchangeable tool heads.…”

“…Basically, it is not a multi functional machine, but WASP develops an additional module, WASP Clay Kit 2.0, which is compatible with the DeltaWasp 20 40 for 3D printing of clay, ceramic mixtures, porcelain, gres, earthenware, and other materials. Finally, regarding DIY (Do It Yourself) 3D printers, some examples are the Fab@Home [40] was introduced as a multi-material open source printer led by students at Corell University [31], the RepRap, also developed by students [41], and the "Universal Paste Extruder" [42] by RichRap. The latter has a sort of syringe pushed by a drive belt mechanism to move the plunger that presses the feedstock through a nozzle.…”

Redesign of an innovative new extrusion system for a printing machine for ceramics

“…The ink is usually supplied through a syringe or container and does not need to be heated to a high temperature to be extruded through the nozzle for printing. Therefore, cells and bacteria can survive during the printing process, making DIW suitable and widely adopted for biology and biomedical applications [31]. According to the literature review [4,30,32,33], 3D printing extrusion machines for ceramic paste or ink can be categorized into three constructive designs, namely plunger-based, screw-based and pump-based extrusions machines.…”