TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of scaffold design parameters on the printing accuracy for melt electrowriting
AU - Zhang, Fucheng
AU - Cao, Kai
AU - Zaeri, Ahmadreza
AU - Zgeib, Ralf
AU - Chang, Robert C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers
PY - 2022/9
Y1 - 2022/9
N2 - Melt electrowriting (MEW), a high-resolution additive manufacturing technique, has been used to fabricate high-fidelity fibrous scaffolds. However, the printing accuracy of MEW is deteriorated by the occurrence of fiber deviation phenomena during the scaffold-fabrication process, which limits a broader application of this technique. Herein, an efficient universal index (Ip), along with an evaluation protocol is advanced to evaluate the printing accuracy of MEW. Then, experimental results show that key scaffold design parameters (fiber diameter (df), inter-fiber distance (Sf), and layer number (N)) can affect the value of Ip significantly. In general, the increase of df and N and the decrease of Sf can lead to inferior printing accuracy, accompanied by a decrement in Ip values. Moreover, the interplay between df and Sf on the printing accuracy is further analyzed based on a variable k (Sf over df). The variables k and N are subsequently identified as the two fundamental scaffold design parameters that affect the printing accuracy. Lastly, residual charge densities entrapped in the scaffolds are measured, thereby furnishing mechanistic insights into the effects of charge on the printing accuracy.
AB - Melt electrowriting (MEW), a high-resolution additive manufacturing technique, has been used to fabricate high-fidelity fibrous scaffolds. However, the printing accuracy of MEW is deteriorated by the occurrence of fiber deviation phenomena during the scaffold-fabrication process, which limits a broader application of this technique. Herein, an efficient universal index (Ip), along with an evaluation protocol is advanced to evaluate the printing accuracy of MEW. Then, experimental results show that key scaffold design parameters (fiber diameter (df), inter-fiber distance (Sf), and layer number (N)) can affect the value of Ip significantly. In general, the increase of df and N and the decrease of Sf can lead to inferior printing accuracy, accompanied by a decrement in Ip values. Moreover, the interplay between df and Sf on the printing accuracy is further analyzed based on a variable k (Sf over df). The variables k and N are subsequently identified as the two fundamental scaffold design parameters that affect the printing accuracy. Lastly, residual charge densities entrapped in the scaffolds are measured, thereby furnishing mechanistic insights into the effects of charge on the printing accuracy.
KW - Melt Electrohydrodynamic printing process
KW - Printing accuracy
KW - Printing evaluation
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jmapro.2022.06.070
DO - 10.1016/j.jmapro.2022.06.070
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85133783430
SN - 1526-6125
VL - 81
SP - 177
EP - 190
JO - Journal of Manufacturing Processes
JF - Journal of Manufacturing Processes
ER -