Nanoscale 3D Printing Technique Uses Micro-Pyramids to Build Better Biochips

This nanoprinting process allows researchers to 3D print more material on a biochip than ever before,making it easier to study biomedical issues.Making biochips,a key technology in studying disease,just got a little easier.This new nanoprinting process?uses gold-plated pyramids,an LED light,and photochemical reactions to print more organic material on the surface of one single biochip than ever before.The technique uses an array of polymer pyramids that are covered in gold and mounted onto an atomic force mi-

Determination of the full-field stress and displacement using photoelasticity and sampling moirémethod in a 3D-printed model

The quantitative characterization of the full-field stress and displacement is significant for analyzing the failure and instability of engineering materials.Various optical measurement techniques such as photoelasticity,moiréand digital image correlation methods have been developed to achieve this goal.However,these methods are difficult to incorporate to determine the stress and displacement fields simultaneously because the tested models must contain particles and grating for displacement measurement;however,these elements will disturb the light passing through the tested models using photoelasticity.In this study,by combining photoelasticity and the sampling moirémethod,we developed a method to determine the stress and displacement fields simultaneously in a three-dimensional(3D)-printed photoelastic model with orthogonal grating.Then,the full-field stress was determined by analyzing 10 photoelastic patterns,and the displacement fields were calculated using the sampling moirémethod.The results indicate that the developed method can simultaneously determine the stress and displacement fields.

Fiber Bragg Grating Based Sensing'Platform for Foot Plantar Pressure Measurement

presented an application of using 3 D printing technique for the design and fabrication of a novel fiber Bragg grating( FBG)based sensing platform for foot planar pressure measurement.Pressure sensing unit was fabricated using 3 D printing technique by layering of extruded polylactic acid( PLA) material and mounting FBG sensor at the center of each sensing unit for pressure measurement. Performance of the sensing system was validated by applying load step by step as well as cyclic load on FBG pressure sensors. A simulation study was carried out using the sensing platform to assess foot plantar pressure distribution arises from weight gaining and losing processes of pregnant woman. The monitored four different foot positions such as first metatarsus,second metatarsus,mid-foot and heel exhibited obvious differences during testing process. Foot plantar pressure of heel was 1. 7 times of the pressure occurred at the first and second metatarsus( fore-foot),while there was limited pressure occurred at the mid-foot position during weight gaining process of a female subject. The occurred pressures at the two metatarsus areas were around 90%( pressure ratio) of heel and decreased continuously as the increase of subject weight,but weight losing process had very limited influence on this pressure ratio. Center of gravity of pregnant woman was found to shift backward substantially during the weighting gaining process,leading to a significant rise of the heel pressure. Hence, the protection of the heel position for female is highly important during both pregnancy and after baby delivery.

Three-dimensional printing of biomaterials for bonetissue engineering: a review

Processing biomaterials into porous scaffolds for bone tissueengineering is a critical and a key step in defining and controlling their physicochemical,mechanical,and biological properties.Biomaterials such as polymers are commonlyprocessed into porous scaffolds using conventional processing techniques,e.g.,saltleaching.However,these traditional techniques have shown unavoidable limitations andseveral shortcomings.For instance,tissue-engineered porous scaffolds with a complexthree-dimensional(3D)geometric architecture mimicking the complexity of theextracellular matrix of native tissues and with the ability to fit into irregular tissue defectscannot be produced using the conventional processing techniques.3D printing hasrecently emerged as an advanced processing technology that enables the processing ofbiomaterials into 3D porous scaffolds with highly complex architectures and tunableshapes to precisely fit into irregular and complex tissue defects.3D printing providescomputer-based layer-by-layer additive manufacturing processes of highly precise andcomplex 3D structures with well-defined porosity and controlled mechanical propertiesin a highly reproducible manner.Furthermore,3D printing technology provides anaccurate patient-specific tissue defect model and enables the fabrication of a patientspecifictissue-engineered porous scaffold with pre-customized properties.