Direct Fiber Electrowriting

Table of Contents

1. Background

1.1 The Physics of Direct Electrowriting

2. Motivation

3. System Overview

4. Design

5. Prototype

6. Test

1. Background

1.1 The Physics of Direct Electrowriting

• Electrohydrodynamic Phenomenon
• Taylor Cone
• Jet Instabilities

2. Motivation

• High-resolution Printing of 3D Biomaterial Platforms
  • Thermoplastics
  • PC 12 (medical grade polycaprolactone) - Thermoplastics
  • Stem cell programming through single cell shape manipulation in 3D cellular substrates
  • Stem Expansion and Differentiation

• High-resolution Printing of Organic Electronics

After reading some papers related to electrospinning of conductive micro- and nano-fibers using PVDF, I came across this company named Piezotech. The company synthesizes a range of printable electroactive polymers (P(VDF-TrFE)) and sells them either in powder form (for direct melt processing or solvent casting) or in optimized ink form (for inkjet printing). Here is a nice processing guide of their polymers.

• High-resolution Printing of Tubular Metamaterial Structures
• Science Paper that Neil sent for mechanical materials
• Can we print microscale soft or stiff structures that behave like machines?

3. System Overview

• Components:
• Linear Actuators
• X-axis
• Y-axis
• Z-axis
• Extruder - Syringe Pump
• Rotary Collector
• Motor Controllers
• High-voltage Power Supply
• Temperature Controller for Extruder
• Temperature Controller for Printing Bed

4. Design

5. Prototype

6. Test