Biodegradable 3D Printed Polymer Microneedles for Transdermal Drug Delivery

Author(s):  
Michael A. Luzuriaga ◽  
Danielle R. Berry ◽  
John C. Reagan ◽  
Ronald A. Smaldone ◽  
Jeremiah J. Gassensmith

Biodegradable polymer microneedle (MN) arrays are an emerging class of transdermal drug delivery devices that promise a painless and sanitary alternative to syringes; however, prototyping bespoke needle architectures is expensive and requires production of new master templates. Here, we present a new microfabrication technique for MNs using fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing using polylactic acid, an FDA approved, renewable, biodegradable, thermoplastic material. We show how this natural degradability can be exploited to overcome a key challenge of FDM 3D printing, in particular the low resolution of these printers. We improved the feature size of the printed parts significantly by developing a post fabrication chemical etching protocol, which allowed us to access tip sizes as small as 1 μm. With 3D modeling software, various MN shapes were designed and printed rapidly with custom needle density, length, and shape. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed that our method resulted in needle tip sizes in the range of 1 – 55 µm, which could successfully penetrate and break off into porcine skin. We have also shown that these MNs have comparable mechanical strengths to currently fabricated MNs and we further demonstrated how the swellability of PLA can be exploited to load small molecule drugs and how its degradability in skin can release those small molecules over time.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Luzuriaga ◽  
Danielle R. Berry ◽  
John C. Reagan ◽  
Ronald A. Smaldone ◽  
Jeremiah J. Gassensmith

Biodegradable polymer microneedle (MN) arrays are an emerging class of transdermal drug delivery devices that promise a painless and sanitary alternative to syringes; however, prototyping bespoke needle architectures is expensive and requires production of new master templates. Here, we present a new microfabrication technique for MNs using fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing using polylactic acid, an FDA approved, renewable, biodegradable, thermoplastic material. We show how this natural degradability can be exploited to overcome a key challenge of FDM 3D printing, in particular the low resolution of these printers. We improved the feature size of the printed parts significantly by developing a post fabrication chemical etching protocol, which allowed us to access tip sizes as small as 1 μm. With 3D modeling software, various MN shapes were designed and printed rapidly with custom needle density, length, and shape. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed that our method resulted in needle tip sizes in the range of 1 – 55 µm, which could successfully penetrate and break off into porcine skin. We have also shown that these MNs have comparable mechanical strengths to currently fabricated MNs and we further demonstrated how the swellability of PLA can be exploited to load small molecule drugs and how its degradability in skin can release those small molecules over time.


2017 ◽  
Vol 84 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benedikt Hampel ◽  
Samuel Monshausen ◽  
Meinhard Schilling

AbstractIn consequence of the growing diversity of materials in the fused deposition modeling 3D printing technique, electrically conductive materials are commercially available. In this work two filaments based on thermoplastics filled with carbon or metal nanoparticles are analyzed in terms of their electrical conductance. The printing parameters to process the materials with the 3D printer are optimized with the design of experiments (DoE) method. A model to calculate the resistance of such 3D printed structures is presented and a demonstrator as a proof of concept was 3D printed based on these results. In addition, 3D printing of capacitors is investigated.


BioResources ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 7122-7138
Author(s):  
Sang-U Bae ◽  
Young-Rok Seo ◽  
Birm-June Kim ◽  
Min Lee

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing technology is the most common system for polymer additive manufacturing (AM). Recent studies have been conducted to expand both the range of materials that can be used for FDM and their applications. As a filler, wood flour was incorporated into poly lactic acid (PLA) polymer to develop a biocomposite material. Composite filaments were manufactured with various wood flour contents and then successfully used for 3D printing. Morphological, mechanical, and biodegradation properties of FDM 3D-printed PLA composites were investigated. To mitigate brittleness, 5 phr of maleic anhydride grafted ethylene propylene diene monomer (MA-EPDM) was added to the composite blends, and microstructural properties of the composites were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Mechanical strength tests demonstrated that elasticity was imparted to the composites. Additionally, test results showed that the addition of wood flour to the PLA matrix promoted pore generation and further influenced the mechanical and biodegradation properties of the 3D-printed composites. An excellent effect of wood flour on the biodegradation properties of FDM 3D-printed PLA composites was observed.


Polymers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kozior ◽  
Trabelsi ◽  
Mamun ◽  
Sabantina ◽  
Ehrmann

Electrospinning is a well-known technology used to create nanofiber mats from diverse polymers and other materials. Due to their large surface-to-volume ratio, such nanofiber mats are often applied as air or water filters. Especially the latter, however, have to be mechanically highly stable, which is challenging for common nanofiber mats. One of the approaches to overcome this problem is gluing them on top of more rigid objects, integrating them in composites, or reinforcing them using other technologies to avoid damage due to the water pressure. Here, we suggest another solution. While direct 3D printing with the fused deposition modeling (FDM) technique on macroscopic textile fabrics has been under examination by several research groups for years, here we report on direct FDM printing on nanofiber mats for the first time. We show that by choosing the proper height of the printing nozzle above the nanofiber mat, printing is possible for raw polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber mats, as well as for stabilized and even more brittle carbonized material. Under these conditions, the adhesion between both parts of the composite is high enough to prevent the nanofiber mat from being peeled off the 3D printed polymer. Abrasion tests emphasize the significantly increased mechanical properties, while contact angle examinations reveal a hydrophilicity between the original values of the electrospun and the 3D printed materials.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 155892502094821
Author(s):  
Tatjana Spahiu ◽  
Eriseta Canaj ◽  
Ermira Shehi

3D printing is a well-known technology for creating 3D objects by laying down successive layers of various materials. Among the wide range of applications, fashion industry has adapted these technologies to revolutionize their brands. But due to the unique characteristics of textiles like comfort, flexibility, and so on, attempts have been made to create similar structures as textiles. The work presented here is part of a project to create garments using fused deposition modeling as 3D printing technology. Structures with various geometries are designed and tested with different materials starting from rigid to flexible. As a result, a fully 3D printed dress is created. Selecting this dress as a model, consumer acceptance for 3D printed garments is evaluated realizing an online survey containing 100 respondents. The data gathered show that respondents have knowledge of 3D printing, its advantages and the majority of them would accept wearing a 3D printed dress.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eda Baran ◽  
H. Erbil

Polylactic acid (PLA) filaments are very popular as a thermoplastic source used in the 3D printing field by the “Fused Deposition Modeling” method in the last decade. The PLA market is expected to reach 5.2 billion US dollars in 2020 for all of its industrial uses. On the other hand, 3D printing is an expanding technology that has a large economic potential in many industries where PLA is one of the main choices as the source polymer due to its ease of printing, environmentally friendly nature, glossiness and multicolor appearance properties. In this review, we first reported the chemical structure, production methods, general properties, and present market of the PLA. Then, the chemical modification possibilities of PLA and its use in 3D printers, present drawbacks, and the surface modification methods of PLA polymers in many different fields were discussed. Specifically, the 3D printing method where the PLA filaments are used in the extrusion-based 3D printing technologies is reviewed in this article. Many methods have been proposed for the permanent surface modifications of the PLA where covalent attachments were formed such as alkaline surface hydrolysis, atom transfer polymerization, photografting by UV light, plasma treatment, and chemical reactions after plasma treatment. Some of these methods can be applied for surface modifications of PLA objects obtained by 3D printing for better performance in biomedical uses and other fields. Some recent publications reporting the surface modification of 3D printed PLA objects were also discussed.


Author(s):  
Karl Jin Ang ◽  
Katherine S. Riley ◽  
Jakob Faber ◽  
Andres F. Arrieta

Using fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing, we combine a bio-inspired bilayer architecture with distributed pre-stress and the shape memory behavior of polylactic acid (PLA) to manufacture shells with switchable bistability. These shells are stiff and monostable at room temperature, but become elastic and bistable with fast morphing when heated above their glass transition temperature. When cooled back down, the shells retain the configuration they were in at the elevated temperature and return to being stiff and monostable. These programmed deformations result from the careful design and control of how the filament is extruded by the printer and therefore, the resulting directional pre-stress. Parameter studies are presented on how to maximize the pre-stress for this application. The shells are analyzed using nonlinear finite element analysis. By leveraging the vast array of geometries accessible with 3D printing, this method can be extended to complex, multi-domain shells, including bio-inspired designs.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mobina Movahedi

Additive manufacturing (AM), 3D printing, is defined as a process of depositing materials layer by layer to create three-dimensional printed models, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies. It has the potential of revolutionizing field of manufacturing, which allows us to create more complex geometries with lower cost and faster speed in comparison to injection molding, compression forming, and forging. Therefore, 3D printing can shorten the design manufacturing cycle, reduce the production cost, and increase the competitiveness. Due to the improvements of processes and advancements of modeling and design, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technologies, a common 3D printing technique, have been involved in wide various applications in the past three decades and numerous studies have been gathered. This research work studies directional properties of FDM 3D printed thermoplastic parts per ASTM D638. Tensile strength and modulus of the coupons along and perpendicular to the printing direction are evaluated. It is observed that FDM 3D printing introduces anisotropic behavior to the manufactured part, e.g. tensile strength of 57.7 and 30.8 MPa for loading along and perpendicular to the printing direction, respectively. FDM 3D printers are not ideal and introduce defects into the manufactured parts, e.g. in the form of missing material, gap. This study investigates the impact of gaps on tensile strength and modulus of 3D printed parts. A maximum reduction of 20% in strength is found for a gap (missing bead) along the loading direction.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mobina Movahedi

Additive manufacturing (AM), 3D printing, is defined as a process of depositing materials layer by layer to create three-dimensional printed models, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies. It has the potential of revolutionizing field of manufacturing, which allows us to create more complex geometries with lower cost and faster speed in comparison to injection molding, compression forming, and forging. Therefore, 3D printing can shorten the design manufacturing cycle, reduce the production cost, and increase the competitiveness. Due to the improvements of processes and advancements of modeling and design, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technologies, a common 3D printing technique, have been involved in wide various applications in the past three decades and numerous studies have been gathered. This research work studies directional properties of FDM 3D printed thermoplastic parts per ASTM D638. Tensile strength and modulus of the coupons along and perpendicular to the printing direction are evaluated. It is observed that FDM 3D printing introduces anisotropic behavior to the manufactured part, e.g. tensile strength of 57.7 and 30.8 MPa for loading along and perpendicular to the printing direction, respectively. FDM 3D printers are not ideal and introduce defects into the manufactured parts, e.g. in the form of missing material, gap. This study investigates the impact of gaps on tensile strength and modulus of 3D printed parts. A maximum reduction of 20% in strength is found for a gap (missing bead) along the loading direction.


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