Non‐toxic flexible photopolymers for medical stereolithography technology

Abstract

Purpose-To describe the development of a novel polyether(meth)acrylate-based resin material class for stereolithography with alterable material characteristics. Design/methodology/approach-A complete overview of details to composition parameters, the optimization and bandwidth of mechanical and processing parameters is given. Initial biological characterization experiments and future application fields are depicted. Process parameters are studied in a commercial 3D systems Viper stereolithography system, and a new method to determine these parameters is described herein. Findings-Initial biological characterizations show the non-toxic behavior in a biological environment, caused mainly by the (meth)acrylate-based core components. These photolithographic resins combine an adjustable low Young's modulus with the advantages of a non-toxic (meth)acrylate-based process material. In contrast to the mostly rigid process materials used today in the rapid prototyping industry, these polymeric formulations are able to fulfill the extended need for a soft engineering material. A short overview of sample applications is given. Practical implications-These polymeric formulations are able to meet the growing demand for a resin class for rapid manufacturing that covers a bandwidth from softer to stiffer materials. Originality/value-This paper gives an overview about the novel developed material class for stereolithography and should be therefore of high interest to people with interest in novel rapid manufacturing materials and technology.

Tissue Engineering Using Novel Rapid Prototyped Diamond‐Like Carbon Coated Scaffolds

“…It can also serve as an alternative or complementary method linked to recent approaches based on developing biophotopolymers with enhanced biocompatibility for RP 24, 42, 43…”

Stereolithographic 3D Bioprinting for Biomedical Applications

“…On the other hand, modified polyether (meth)acrylate-based systems, such as those developed by Emons and coworkers, have been proven to be biocompatible via in vitro tests on mouse fibroblasts [29]. Epoxy-based resins are generally cytotoxic and hence unsuitable for translational medical applications.…”

“…SL 5510 is an acrylate/ epoxy-based formulation, YC 9300 R is an acrylate-based formulation, and the Flex materials are polyether(meth)-acrylate-based formulations; (b) a flexible breathing mask fabricated using the novel biocompatible Flex material[29]. (a) Cytocompatibility of elastomeric resins developed by Emons and coworkers.…”

Synthesis and characterization of divinyl-fumarate poly-ε-caprolactone for scaffolds with controlled architectures

“…These materials are predominantly glassy, rigid and brittle. Only a few resins have been described that allow the preparation of elastomeric objects by stereolithography (Bens et al, 2007). The functionalization of aliphatic polyesters, such as polyglycolide (PGA), polylactide (PLA), poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL), with unsaturated groups and subsequent Ultraviolet (UV) crosslinking has been introduced to overcome this limitation (Sawhney et al, 1993;Grijpma et al, 2005).…”