Applications
Tissue Engineering
Lets say Mike Tyson bit off more then just a chunk of your ear. 3D bioprinting has the potential to customize a new ear for you.
Au, Anthony K, Wilson Huynh, Lisa F. Horowitz, and Albert Folch. "3d-printed Microfluidics." Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 55.12 (2016): 3862-3881. Print
Hausman, Kalani K, and Richard Horne. 3d Printing for Dummies. , 2014. Internet resource.
Kang, HW, SJ Lee, IK Ko, C Kengla, JJ Yoo, and A Atala. "A 3d Bioprinting System to Produce Human-Scale Tissue Constructs with Structural Integrity." Nature Biotechnology. 34.3 (2016): 312-9. Print.
Lee Lerner, K. "3D Printing." The Gale Encyclopedia of Science, edited by K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, 5th ed., vol. 8, Gale, 2014, p. 4383. Gale Virtual Reference Library, silk.library.umass.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&sw=w&u=mlin_w_umassamh&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CCX3727802429&asid=0eb5397745510438593a6c6b6c9698a1. Accessed 16 Feb. 2017.
Murphy, Sean V., and Anthony Atala. "3D Bioprinting of Tissues and Organs." Nature Biotechnology 32.8 (2014): 773-85. Web.
Robotics
Many robots are made to carry out tasks for humans or imitate human tasks, and so they are often designed to mimic humans or animals (will not go into the philosophy of are humans animals here). Robots can be made with rigid bodies or soft bodies. Robots with rigid bodies are typically made to perform one task efficiently, but they are limited in their ability to adapt to different environments. The hard surfaces and rigid joints of the robots can also create an unsafe environment to interaction with humans [15].
In contrast, soft robots have properties that are difficult to achieve with rigid-bodied robots. The robots can be made from hydrogels, granular media, or elastomers. They are physically resilient, more flexible, and have the potential to passively adapt to the environment [14]. An example of a soft robot is shown in Figure (#), a manta-ray inspired soft robot.
Under the constraints of the current technology, soft robots are still tied to control systems made of hard materials. Thus, producing fully autonomous soft robots with no rigid components presents a major challenge. [14].[15]
Octobot
The Octobot is a 3-D printed, fully autonomous, microfluidic robot. The robot is made completely of soft materials, such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), Pluronic F127, and SE 1700 and Sylgard 184, which are silicone-based materials. The Octobot is powered by a microfluidic logic controller and a decomposition reaction that generates gas.[14]
Fabrication
Several different techniques are used to produce the Octobot. The body of soft lithography and micro-moulding and embedded 3-D (EMB3-D) printing. The printing process can be seen in the figure below.
Micro-molding
The soft controller for the microfluidic logic is made using micro-molding. It is covered with a polyimide mask for protection and placed into a mold filled with hyperelastic layers for actuation. The mold is then filled with the body matrix materials and crosslinked.
EMB3-D Printing
The mesofluidic networks were created by combining micro-moulding and EMB3D printing. A fugative ink was used to pattern the networks, which can be shown in the figure above. The fuel reservoirs, reaction chambers, actuation networks, and vent orifics were all EMB3D printed using hydrogel-based inks,including fugitive and catalytic inks.The fugitive ink is composed of a triblock polymer gel and the catalytic ink contains platinum particles in a suspension with Pluronic 127. The properties of these inks were tailored for EMB3D printing [14] and can be changed by varying the print speed.
Actuation
The octobot is controlled fully through microfluidic logic, without the need of any hard, rigid control systems. A soft, microfluidic controller sits at the center of the Octobot. The controller regulates fluid flow and the catalytic decomposition of the monopropellant fuel inside the robot.
The microfludic controller is shown in the figure below.
The controller system is divided into four sections: upstream for liquid fuel storage, oscillator for liquid fuel regulation, reaction chamber for the decomposition into pressurized gas, and downstream for gas distribution for actuation and venting.
In the upstream section, the fuel reservoirs are filled using a syringe pump. Backflow into the fuel inlets is prevented using check valves.
The networks downstream from the reaction are inflated from the gas produced from the fuel decomposition. The inflation causes parts of the Octobot to move.
The power source of the robot is the decomposition of aqueous hydrogen peroxide, shown in the reaction below.
2H2O2 (l) → 2H2O (l,g) + O2 (g).
The reaction results in a 240-fold volumetric expansion.
The controller is designed to operate at fuel flow rates of 40 μl min-1, with a fuel capacity of 1 ml, resulting in a theoretical run time of 12.5 minutes. [14]
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Top-view of Octobot in motion (Image:Wehner,M. and et. al.,2016).
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Front-view of Octobot in motion (Image:Wehner,M. and et. al.,2016).
Food Science and Nutrition
As the global population grows, providing nutritional food that is both sustainable and appealing has become an ongoing problem[1]. Since 3D printing techniques can create desirable and appealing objects using various materials, this technique has potential as a new, scalable method of making food[1]. For example, insects are rich in proteins and healthy fats, but most people do not find insects appetizing. Utilizing this 3D printing technique, unconventional food materials can be made appealing to the public[1]. If the appearance and texture of food product can be improved,[1], more people may be able to accept unappealing but otherwise nutritious foods. In addition, 3D printing makes it possible to personalize food by adding or reducing certain ingredients in the food "ink" for special treatment or extra care[1].
Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is the method typically used to 3D print food[1]. Molten materials in liquid state, such as sugar, chocolate, gelatin can be printed using this method[1]; Purees, gels, and doughs can be deposited directly without any structuring agent to support the structure[1]. The fundamental structure of a 3D food printer usually includes an extruder which is a syringe that is connected to an electric engine at one end and few nozzles at the other end[1]. Ingredients are mixed and stored in reservoirs and containers, and nozzles deliver the ingredients, extruders are used to push different materials or color mixing by a colormix generator[1]. Materials are layered and deposited onto he heating platform, which can also be used to cook the food as it is deposited[1].
References
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- Manapat JZ, Chen Q, Ye P et al. 3D Printing of Polymer Nanocomposites via Stereolithography. Macromol Mater Eng 2017;302:1–13. DOI:10.1002/mame.201600553
- Amin R, Knowlton S, Hart A et al. 3D-printed microfluidic devices. Biofabrication 2016;8, DOI:10.1088/1758-5090/8/2/022001.
- Ozbolat V, Dey M, Ayan B et al. 3D Printing of PDMS Improves Its Mechanical and Cell Adhesion Properties. ACS Biomater Sci Eng 2018:acsbiomaterials.7b00646. DOI:10.1021/acsbiomaterials.7b00646
- Yang Y, Li L. Total volatile organic compound emission evaluation and control for stereolithography additive manufacturing process. J Clean Prod 2018;170:1268–78. DOI:10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.09.193
- A. A. Yazdi, A. Popma, W. Wong, T. Nguyen, Y. Pan, and J. Xu, “3D printing: an emerging tool for novel microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip applications,” Microfluid. Nanofluidics, vol. 20, no. 3, p. 50, Mar. 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40036-5_4
- C. Ladd, J.-H. So, J. Muth, and M. D. Dickey, “3D Printing of Free Standing Liquid Metal Microstructures,” Adv. Mater., vol. 25, no. 36, pp. 5081–5085, Sep. 2013. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201301400
- P. H. King, “Towards rapid 3D direct manufacture of biomechanical microstructures,” 2009. EThOS:[[4]]
- L. Romoli, G. Tantussi, and G. Dini, “Experimental approach to the laser machining of PMMA substrates for the fabrication of microfluidic devices,” Opt. Lasers Eng., vol. 49, no. 3, pp. 419–427, Mar. 2011. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optlaseng.2010.11.013
- W. Su, B. S. Cook, Y. Fang, and M. M. Tentzeris, “Fully inkjet-printed microfluidics: a solution to low-cost rapid three-dimensional microfluidics fabrication with numerous electrical and sensing applications,” Sci. Rep., vol. 6, no. 1, p. 35111, Dec. 2016. DOI: 10.1038/srep35111
- G. Comina, A. Suska, and D. Filippini, “Low cost lab-on-a-chip prototyping with a consumer grade 3D printer” Lab on a Chip, 2014,14, 2978-2982. DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00394B
- R. Auras, “Poly(lactic acid,” 2010, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/0471440264.pst275
- Wehner, M.; Truby, R. L.; Fitzgerald, D. J.; Mosadegh, B.; Whitesides, G. M.; Lewis, J. A.; Wood, R. An integrated design and fabrication strategy for entirely soft, autonomous robots J. Nature. 2016, 536 (7617), 451–455. DOI:10.1038/nature19100
- Rus, D.; Tolley, M. T. Design, fabrication and control of soft robots. Nature 2015, 521 (7553), 467–475. DOI:10.1038/nature14543
- Onal, C. D., Chen, X., Whitesides, G. M. & Rus, D. Soft mobile robots with on-board chemical pressure generation. In 15th International Symposium on Robotics Research (ISRR 2011) 1–16 (2011). [[5]]