Spin-Printing of Liquid Crystal Polymer into Recyclable and Strong All-Fiber Materials

Fiber-reinforced polymers are widely used as lightweight materials in aircraft, automobiles, wind turbine blades, and sports products. Despite the beneficial weight reduction achieved in such applications, these composites often suffer from poor recyclability and limited geometries. 3D printing of liquid crystal polymers into complex-shaped...

Tuning the Nanotopography and Chemical Functionality of 3D Printed Scaffolds through Cellulose Nanocrystal Coatings

In nature, cells exist in three-dimensional (3D) microenvironments with topography, stiffness, surface chemistry, and biological factors that strongly dictate their phenotype and behavior. The cellular microenvironment is an organized structure or scaffold that, together with the cells that live within it, make up living tissue. To mimic...

A Fully 3D-Printed Steerable Instrument for Minimally Invasive Surgery

In the field of medical instruments, additive manufacturing allows for a drastic reduction in the number of components while improving the functionalities of the final design. In addition, modifications for users’ needs or specific procedures become possible by enabling the production of single customized items. In this work, we present the...

Accessibility of support structures in topology optimization for additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) and topology optimization (TO) have a synergetic relation, as AM can produce complex TO designs, and TO provides high-performance parts that utilize the form freedom provided by AM. Recently, TO has been tailored more toward AM with the inclusion of the minimum allowable overhang angle as a design constraint:...

Fast Detection of Heat Accumulation in Powder Bed Fusion Using Computationally Efficient Thermal Models

The powder bed fusion (PBF) process is a type of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technique which enables fabrication of highly complex geometries with unprecedented design freedom. However, PBF still suffers from manufacturing constraints which, if overlooked, can cause various types of defects in the final part. One such constraint is the local...

Engineered 3D Polymer and Hydrogel Microenvironments for Cell Culture Applications

The realization of biomimetic microenvironments for cell biology applications such as organ-on-chip, in vitro drug screening, and tissue engineering is one of the most fascinating research areas in the field of bioengineering. The continuous evolution of additive manufacturing techniques provides the tools to engineer these architectures at...

Exploring the potential of additive manufacturing for product design in a circular economy

Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is acknowledged for its potential to support sustainable design. In this paper, we explore whether the opportunities that additive manufacturing offers for sustainable design are also useful when designing for a circular economy, and to what extent additive manufacturing can support design...

ChoRe: A device for trans-catheter chordae tendineae repair

This work focuses on the design of a new device (called ChoRe) to place artificial chords in the mitral valve structure during a trans-catheter procedure. The aim of the device is to restore the correct functionality of the valve and solve mitral valve regurgitation, that is, a common consequence of chordae tendineae rupture. An analysis of...

3D Printing for the Fabrication of Biofilm-Based Functional Living Materials

Bacterial biofilms are three-dimensional networks of cells entangled in a self-generated extracellular polymeric matrix composed of proteins, lipids, polysaccharides, and nucleic acids. Biofilms can establish themselves on virtually any accessible surface and lead to varying impacts ranging from infectious diseases to degradation of toxic...

Bayesian Machine Learning in metamaterial design: Fragile becomes supercompressible

Designing future-proof materials goes beyond a quest for the best. The next generation of materials needs to be adaptive, multipurpose, and tunable. This is not possible by following the traditional experimentally guided trial-and-error process, as this limits the search for untapped regions of the solution space. Here, a computational data...

3D Printed Actuators: Reversibility, Relaxation, and Ratcheting

Additive manufacturing strives to combine any combination of materials into 3D functional structures and devices, ultimately opening up the possibility of 3D printed machines. It remains difficult to actuate such devices, thus limiting the scope of 3D printed machines to passive devices or necessitating the incorporation of external actuators...

Development and prototyping of an integrated 3D-printed façade for thermal regulation in complex geometries

Currently, several research projects investigate Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology as possible construction method for future buildings. AM methods have some advantages over other production processes, such as great freedom of form, shape complexity, scale and material use. These characteristics are relevant for façade applications, which...

Simultaneous delivery of multiple antibacterial agents from additively manufactured porous biomaterials to fully eradicate planktonic and adherent Staphylococcus aureus

Implant-associated infections are notoriously difficult to treat and may even result in amputation and death. The first few days after surgery are the most critical time to prevent those infections, preferably through full eradication of the micro-organisms entering the body perioperatively. That is particularly important for patients with a...

Additively manufactured scaffolds for bone tissue engineering and the prediction of their mechanical behavior: A review

Additive manufacturing (AM), nowadays commonly known as 3D printing, is a revolutionary materials processing technology, particularly suitable for the production of low-volume parts with high shape complexities and often with multiple functions. As such, it holds great promise for the fabrication of patient-specific implants. In recent years,...

Effect of Alkali-Acid-Heat Chemical Surface Treatment on Electron Beam Melted Porous Titanium and Its Apatite Forming Ability

Advanced additive manufacturing techniques such as electron beam melting (EBM), can produce highly porous structures that resemble the mechanical properties and structure of native bone. However, for orthopaedic applications, such as joint prostheses or bone substitution, the surface must also be bio-functionalized to promote bone growth. In the...