Lamb Christopher D, Maitland Brooke, Hepburn Matt S, Dargaville Tim R, Kennedy Brendan F, Dalton Paul D, Keating Adrian, De-Juan-Pardo Elena M
T3mPLATE, Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, QEII Medical Centre Nedlands and Centre for Medical Research, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia.
School of Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2024 Dec;11(47):e2407514. doi: 10.1002/advs.202407514. Epub 2024 Oct 24.
Melt electrowriting (MEW) is a high-resolution additive manufacturing technology capable of depositing micrometric fibers onto a moving collector to form 3D scaffolds of controlled mechanical properties. While the critical role of layer bonding to achieve mechanical integrity in fused deposition modeling has been widely reported, it remains largely unknown in MEW, in part due to a lack of methods to assess it. Here, a systematic framework is developed to unravel the significance of layer bonding in MEW scaffolds and its ultimate effect on their mechanical properties. Results show that printing parameters, scaffold design, and print path have a strong impact on layer bonding strength of poly(ɛ-caprolactone) MEW scaffolds. This study demonstrates that a small increase of 5 µm in fiber diameter can enhance the layer bonding strength by as much as 70%, greatly impacting the overall scaffold properties. A method is also established to control MEW scaffold layer bonding using a heated collector. Importantly, this study reveals that scaffold architecture alone is not responsible for the overall mechanical properties. Finally, a method to obtain tailored layer bond strengths within a given scaffold is established. This has significant implications as provides new possibilities to control mechanical properties of MEW scaffolds through layer bonding.
熔体电写（MEW）是一种高分辨率增材制造技术，能够将微米级纤维沉积到移动的收集器上，以形成具有可控机械性能的3D支架。虽然在熔融沉积建模中，层粘结对实现机械完整性的关键作用已被广泛报道，但在MEW中这在很大程度上仍然未知，部分原因是缺乏评估它的方法。在此，开发了一个系统框架，以揭示MEW支架中层粘结的重要性及其对其机械性能的最终影响。结果表明，打印参数、支架设计和打印路径对聚（ε-己内酯）MEW支架的层粘结强度有很大影响。这项研究表明，纤维直径仅增加5微米就能使层粘结强度提高多达70%，极大地影响整个支架的性能。还建立了一种使用加热收集器来控制MEW支架层粘结的方法。重要的是，这项研究表明，仅支架结构并不能决定整体机械性能。最后，建立了一种在给定支架内获得定制层粘结强度的方法。这具有重要意义，因为它为通过层粘结控制MEW支架的机械性能提供了新的可能性。
