Graduation Semester and Year
2018
Language
English
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Department
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
First Advisor
Panayiotis S Shiakolas
Second Advisor
Pranesh B Aswath
Abstract
Additive manufacturing has been investigated and employed in the bio-medical domain for the fabrication of various devices and scaffolds. In various soft tissue engineering applications, multi-functional multi-material scaffolds are required for cell proliferation, structural integrity, bio-compatibility and tissue regeneration. In this research, an additive manufacturing methodology is developed to allow the fabrication of bio-composite scaffolds using a multi-modality in-house built platform. The researched materials for printing are Poly-L-Lactic Acid (PLLA) and a newly developed photo-curable radiopaque polymer called Rylar (Poly glycerole sebacate fumarate gadodiamide) mixed with a cross-linking agent Poly (Ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA). The developed methodology uses a Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) technique to print PLLA and Direct Ink Writing (DIW) or Viscous Extrusion (VE) to process Rylar in-situ on the same platform. Controlled process parameters of print speed, feed speed, UV intensity, and nozzle to bed distance were investigated to fabricate scaffolds. Multi-layered composite scaffolds with two materials were successfully printed. Further investigation is proposed towards the fabrication of bio-scaffolds with more layers of each material for soft tissue application such as tracheomalacia.
Keywords
Additive manufacturing, Biodegradable, Bioresorbable, Fused filament fabrication, Direct ink writing, Composite scaffolds
Disciplines
Aerospace Engineering | Engineering | Mechanical Engineering
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Patel, Parimal, "Additive Manufacturing Process Investigation for the Fabrication of Composite Scaffolds for Soft Tissue Application" (2018). Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses. 800.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/mechaerospace_theses/800
Comments
Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington