Printomics: the high-throughput analysis of printing parameters applied to melt electrowriting

Abstract

Melt electrowriting (MEW) combines the fundamental principles of electrospinning, a fibre forming technology, and 3D printing. The process, however, is highly complex and the quality of the fabricated structures strongly depends on the interplay of key printing parameter settings including processing temperature, applied voltage, collection speed, and applied pressure. These parameters act in unison, comprising the principal forces on the electrified jet: pushing the viscous polymer out of the nozzle and mechanically and electrostatically dragging it for deposition towards the collector. Although previous studies interpreted the underlying mechanism of electrospinning with polymer melts in a direct writing mode, contemporary devices used in laboratory environments lack the capability to collect large data reproducibly. Yet, a validated large data set is a condition sine qua non to design an in-process control system which allows to computer control the complexity of the MEW process. For this reason, we engineered an advanced automated MEW system with monitoring capabilities to specifically generate large, reproducible data volumes which allows the interpretation of complex process parameters. Additionally, the design of an innovative real-time MEW monitoring system identifies the main effects of the system parameters on the geometry of the fibre flight path. This enables, for the first time, the establishment of a comprehensive correlation between the input parameters and the geometry of a MEW jet. The study verifies the most stable process parameters for the highly reproducible fabrication of a medical-grade poly(ε-caprolactone) fibres and demonstrates how Printomics can be performed for the high throughput analysis of processing parameters for MEW.

A hierarchically ordered compacted coil scaffold for tissue regeneration

“…With increased temperature, the PCL melt possessed lower viscosity and accordingly showed a higher flow rate, which led to an increase in the diameter. The effect of temperature, and collector speed on the diameter of straight PCL fibers was found to be consistent with previous studies 44,45 . At the same stage speed (800, 1000 or 1500 mm/min), the PCL coil density increased linearly with temperatures from 75°C to 100°C (Fig.…”

Melt electrowriting onto anatomically relevant biodegradable substrates: Resurfacing a diarthrodial joint

“…It is known that the electrical field (EF), and its resulting electrical force, the main fibre pulling force in the MEW process, is affected by the collector design in both shape, dimension [ 24 ], and material properties [ 25 ], as well as by the instrument configuration and process parameters [ 26 – 28 ]. In particular, the electrical conductive properties of the collecting material, together with the processing parameters, i.e .…”

A Parameter Study for 3D-Printing Organized Nanofibrous Collagen Scaffolds Using Direct-Write Electrospinning

“…[8]. Polymer melts have been elecrospun in melt electro-writing (MEW) to create organized fibrous scaffolds, but they are incompatible with heat sensitive polymers like collagen [13][14][15][16][17][18]. Additionally, varying polymer solutions and custom equipment make it is necessary to re-optimize methods across laboratories.…”