Photopolymers for rapid prototyping

Rapid prototyping by means of stereolithography using different types of photopolymers has gained increasing interest because cellular structures can be built at a high resolution with sub-mu m feature sizes. Structures made with digital light processing and microstereolithography and rapid prototyping based on two-photon absorption photopolymerization techniques are presented. Soluble photopolymers were developed to substitute crosslinked photopolymers as mold materials and to extend the variety of materials which can be cast. With these molds, the processing of 'bio-inspired' ceramic composites with a controlled architecture from a macroscopic scale down to the nanometer range is possible. Another example is the development of biophotopolymers that are based on commercially available reactive diluents and modified gelatin for the fabrication of cellular bone replacement materials. Biocompatibility was investigated by seeding with osteoblast-like cells.