J Shanghai Jiaotong Univ Sci

J Shanghai Jiaotong Univ Sci ›› 2021, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (3): 411-415.doi: 10.1007/s12204-021-2313-5

• Medical 3D Printing and Personalised Medicine • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Formability of Printing Ink for Melt Electrowriting

Formability of Printing Ink for Melt Electrowriting

HAN Yu‡ (韩煜), SUN Binbin‡ (孙彬彬), JIANG Wenbo(姜闻博), DAI Kerong (戴尅戎)   

  1. (Department of Orthopaedic Surgery; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Orthopaedic Implants; Clinical and Translational
    Research Center for 3D Printing Technology, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of
    Medicine, Shanghai 200011, China)
  2. (Department of Orthopaedic Surgery; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Orthopaedic Implants; Clinical and Translational
    Research Center for 3D Printing Technology, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of
    Medicine, Shanghai 200011, China)
  • Online:2021-06-28 Published:2021-06-02
  • Contact: JIANG Wenbo (姜闻博), DAI Kerong(戴尅戎) E-mail:jwb 3dprinting@163.com, krdai@163.com
  • Supported by:
    the National Key R&D Program of
    China (Nos. 2018YFB1105600 and 2018YFA0703000),
    the National Natural Science Foundation of China
    (No. 81802131), and the China Postdoctoral Science
    Foundation (No. 2019T120347)

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Abstract: 3D printing, also called additive manufacturing, is being used increasingly in tissue engineering. However,  the printing accuracy remains limited, making it difficult to prepare a tissue engineering scaffold with high  precision and high porosity. Melt electrowriting (MEW) technology is based on extrusion printing, in which an  extruded material is pulled by the action of an electric field, thereby reducing the fiber diameter and improving  the printing accuracy. However, MEW technology imposes high requirements on the material properties, and  therefore, few printing materials are currently available for use in this process. The present study investigates  the characteristics and molding conditions of polycaprolactone, a commonly used printing material, as well as  other materials such as poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate/polyethylene oxide, gelatin  methacrylate, and hyaluronic acid methacrylate for MEW applications, and develops new and suitable inks for  MEW that will provide more and better choices for constructing a bioactive scaffold in future tissue engineering  research. Experiments suggest that a printing ink should have low electrical conductivity, suitable viscosity, and  high curing speed for realizing successful printing.

Key words: 3D printing, melt electrowriting (MEW), conductivity, viscosity, Taylor cone

摘要： 3D printing, also called additive manufacturing, is being used increasingly in tissue engineering. However,  the printing accuracy remains limited, making it difficult to prepare a tissue engineering scaffold with high  precision and high porosity. Melt electrowriting (MEW) technology is based on extrusion printing, in which an  extruded material is pulled by the action of an electric field, thereby reducing the fiber diameter and improving  the printing accuracy. However, MEW technology imposes high requirements on the material properties, and  therefore, few printing materials are currently available for use in this process. The present study investigates  the characteristics and molding conditions of polycaprolactone, a commonly used printing material, as well as  other materials such as poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate/polyethylene oxide, gelatin  methacrylate, and hyaluronic acid methacrylate for MEW applications, and develops new and suitable inks for  MEW that will provide more and better choices for constructing a bioactive scaffold in future tissue engineering  research. Experiments suggest that a printing ink should have low electrical conductivity, suitable viscosity, and  high curing speed for realizing successful printing.

关键词: 3D printing, melt electrowriting (MEW), conductivity, viscosity, Taylor cone

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