Three-dimensional printing with sacrificial materials for soft matter manufacturing
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uction A major challenge in developing effective biomedical technologies is the difficulty of shaping hydrogels,1–4 biopolymer networks,5,6 silicones,1,7–9 and cells10–12 into finely detailed three-dimensional (3D) structures. Generally, these soft materials must be shaped while in a liquid state before solidifying within seconds or minutes for biopolymer gelation,13–15 or within several days for cells producing the extracellular matrix.10 The need to create high-resolution structures from these soft materials has driven 3D printing technology far beyond the traditional practice of liquefying, extruding, and resolidifying solid materials, entering a paradigm of shaping liquids in 3D space. The challenge of shaping liquids has led to a convergence among new printing technologies—they often leverage materials that exhibit large, reversible rheological changes resulting from small physical or chemical perturbations. This behavior is a defining characteristic of soft matter as a class of material.16 Beyond its typically low elastic modulus (usually below 10 MPa), this sensitivity of soft matter to
small perturbations has been critical for developing new materials for bioprinting and for improving 3D printing of soft materials in general. Until recently, it was practically impossible to reproducibly form soft materials into complex 3D structures at high spatial resolution; manufacturing processes resembled art more than manufacturing.17 Manufacturing soft structures has been enabled by new methods and materials that leverage the unique properties of soft matter, which we review here. Significant progress has been made using “sacrificial” materials that are not ultimately part of manufactured structures, but leverage the highly responsive rheological properties of soft matter. We therefore limit the scope of this article to sacrificial inks and support materials. With sacrificial inks, a temporary structure is printed, surrounded by a permanent material, and then removed to create hollow structures (Figure 1a–c). With sacrificial support materials, a permanent structure is printed directly into a sacrificial material that acts as a support matrix during the curing or maturation of the manufactured structure (Figure 1d–g).
Christopher S. O’Bryan, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, USA; [email protected] Tapomoy Bhattacharjee, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, USA; [email protected] Sean R. Niemi, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, USA; [email protected] Sidhika Balachandar, University of Florida, USA; [email protected] Nicholas Baldwin, University of Florida, USA; [email protected] S. Tori Ellison, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, USA; [email protected] Curtis R. Taylor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, USA; [email protected] W. Gregory Sawyer, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Flor
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