Materials and Strategies to Enhance Melt Electrowriting Potential

Abstract

Melt electrowriting (MEW) is an emerging additive manufacturing (AM) technology that enables the precise deposition of continuous polymeric microfibers, allowing for the creation of high‐resolution constructs. In recent years, MEW has undergone a revolution, with the introduction of active properties or additional functionalities through novel polymer processing strategies, the incorporation of functional fillers, post‐processing, or the combination with other techniques. While extensively explored in biomedical applications, MEW's potential in other fields remains untapped. Thus, this review explores MEW's characteristics from a materials science perspective, emphasizing the diverse range of materials and composites processed by this technique and their current and potential applications. Additionally, the prospects offered by post‐printing processing techniques are explored, together with the synergy achieved by combining melt electrowriting with other manufacturing methods. By highlighting the untapped potentials of MEW, this review aims to inspire research groups across various fields to leverage this technology for innovative endeavors.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

The Past, Present, and Future of Tubular Melt Electrowritten Constructs to Mimic Small Diameter Blood Vessels – A Stable Process?

“…[56,57] As a compromise between the gold standard of pure PCL and new options -for example, more biocompatible polymers or even natural ones -the blending of polymers has been used to allow processability [58,59] by modifying the properties of PCL with additives [60][61][62] or modifying the surface of PCL to enhance its bioactivity. [63] Nevertheless, there is progress on the material side of research, introducing new materials into the MEWframework [51,58,[64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72] and even enabling the deposition of hydrogels via the process. [73]…”