Dine Andi, Bentley Edward, PoulmarcK Loic A, Dini Daniele, Forte Antonio E, Tan Zhengchu
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
HardwareX. 2021 Feb 2;9:e00176. doi: 10.1016/j.ohx.2021.e00176. eCollection 2021 Apr.
Due to their inability to sustain their own weight, 3D printing materials as soft as human tissues is challenging. Hereby we describe the development of an extrusion additive manufacturing (AM) machine able to 3D print super soft hydrogels with micro-scale precision. By designing and integrating new subsystems into a conventional extrusion-based 3D printer, we obtained hardware that encompasses a range of new capabilities. In particular, we integrated a heated dual nozzle extrusion system and a cooling platform in the new system. In addition, we altered the electronics and software of the 3D printer to ensure fully automatized procedures are delivered by the 3D printing device, and super-soft tissue mimicking parts are produced. With regards to the electronics, we added new devices to control the temperature of the extrusion system. As for the software, the firmware of the conventional 3D printer was changed and modified to allow for the flow rate control of the ink, thus eliminating overflows in sections of the printing path where the direction/speed changes sharply.
由于无法承受自身重量，3D打印像人体组织一样柔软的材料具有挑战性。在此，我们描述了一种挤出式增材制造（AM）机器的开发，该机器能够以微米级精度3D打印超软水凝胶。通过将新的子系统设计并集成到传统的基于挤出的3D打印机中，我们获得了具有一系列新功能的硬件。特别是，我们在新系统中集成了一个加热双喷嘴挤出系统和一个冷却平台。此外，我们改变了3D打印机的电子设备和软件，以确保3D打印设备能够实现完全自动化的程序，并生产出模仿超软组织的部件。在电子设备方面，我们添加了新的设备来控制挤出系统的温度。在软件方面，对传统3D打印机的固件进行了更改和修改，以实现对墨水流量的控制，从而消除打印路径中方向/速度急剧变化的部分出现的溢出问题。
