Multiscale 3D manufacturing: combining thermal extrusion printing with additive and subtractive direct laser writing
A novel approach for efficient manufacturing of three dimensional (3D) microstructured scaffolds designed for cell studies and tissue engineering applications is presented. A thermal extrusion (fused filament fabrication) 3D printer is employed as a simple and low cost tabletop device enabling rapid materialization of CAD models out of biocompatible and biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) Here it was used to produce cm scale microporous (pore size varying from 100 to 400 um) scaffolds. The fabricated objects were further laser processed in a direct laser writing (DLW) subtractive (ablation) and additive (lithography) manners. The first approach enables precise surface modification by creating micro craters, holes and grooves thus increasing the surface roughness. An alternative way is to immerse the 3D PLA scaffold in a monomer solution and use the same DLW setup to refine its inner structure by fabricating dots, lines or a fine mesh on top as well as inside the pores of previously produced scaffolds. The DLW technique is empowered by ultrafast lasers it allows 3D structuring with high spatial resolution in a great variety of photosensitive materials. Structure geometry on macro to micro scales could be finely tuned by combining these two fabrication techniques. Such artificial 3D substrates could be used for cell growth or as biocompatible biodegradable implants. This combination of distinct material processing techniques enables rapid fabrication of diverse functional micro featured and integrated devices. Hopefully, the proposed approach will find numerous applications in the field of ms, microfluidics, microoptics and many others.
Photonics Europe