Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 117, Issue 26, Pages 14790-14797Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1917289117
Keywords
3D printing; emulsions; microfluidic; soft robotics; PDMS
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Funding
- University of California, Davis (UC Davis)
- AmPrint Center at Rochester Institute of Technology
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One of the key thrusts in three-dimensional (3D) printing and direct writing is to seamlessly vary composition and functional properties in printed constructs. Most inks used for extrusionbased printing, however, are compositionally static and available approaches for dynamic tuning of ink composition remain few. Here, we present an approach to modulate extruded inks at the point of print, using droplet inclusions. Using a glass capillary microfluidic device as the printhead, we dispersed droplets in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) continuous phase and subsequently 3D printed the resulting emulsion into a variety of structures. The mechanical characteristics of the 3D-printed constructs can be tuned in situ by varying the spatial distribution of droplets, including aqueous and liquid metal droplets. In particular, we report the use of poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) aqueous droplets for local PDMS chemistry alteration resulting in significant softening (85% reduced elastic modulus) of the 3D-printed constructs. Furthermore, we imparted magnetic functionality in PDMS by dispersing ferrofluid droplets and rationally designed and printed a rudimentary magnetically responsive soft robotic actuator as a functional demonstration of our droplet-based strategy. Our approach represents a continuing trend of adapting microfluidic technology and principles for developing the next generation of additive manufacturing technology.
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