A holistic model for melt electrowritten three-dimensional structured materials based on residual charge.

The printing accuracy of polymer melt electrowriting is adversely affected by the residual charge entrapped within the fibers, especially for three-dimensional (3D) structured materials or multilayered scaffolds with small interfiber distances. To clarify this effect, an analytical charge-based model is proposed herein. The electric potential energy of the jet segment is calculated considering the amount and distribution of the residual charge in the jet segment and the deposited fibers.

Numerical analysis on the effects of microfluidic-based bioprinting parameters on the microfiber geometrical outcomes.

The application of microfluidics technology in additive manufacturing is an emerging approach that makes possible the fabrication of functional three-dimensional cell-laden structured biomaterials. A key challenge that needs to be addressed using a microfluidic-based printhead (MBP) is increasing the controllability over the properties of the fabricated microtissue. Herein, an MBP platform is numerically simulated for the fabrication of solid and hollow microfibers using a microfluidic channel system with high level of controllability over the microfiber geometrical outcomes.