Laboratory for Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing) of Biomedical Polymers

生物医用级聚合物的添加制造需要使用专用设备(3D打印机)，这些设备能够制造各种复杂程度的物体，这些物体由具有不同机械和物理化学特性的各种聚合物制成。3D打印的生物医学聚合物可以是非常柔软的水凝胶、生物物质(例如细胞外基质、胶原)，也可以是非常坚固和耐用的高性能热塑性塑料(例如PEEK)。通常，生物医学对象必须用结合不同类型聚合物的组件来制造。用作3D打印设备原材料的聚合物可以通过一系列功能添加剂进行改进，例如用于磁共振成像或C-射线可见性的造影剂和用于医学物理应用的放射性同位素。开发添加剂增强型生物医用级聚合物需要在3D生物医用聚合物打印设施中部署专用挤出机。最后，用于3D打印应用的新型挤压复合材料必须通过热重分析进行精确测量，以评估其在3D打印操作的不同温度范围内的行为和稳定性。所要求的基础设施将由一个高生产率和积极主动的研究合作者团队使用，这些合作者涉及生物医学工程、纳米技术、聚合物成型、医学物理、生物医学成像和再生医学等领域。一些正在进行的研究项目受到与形成日益复杂的聚合物和杂化(纳米)材料有关的技术挑战的阻碍。所需的基础设施包括(1)涵盖大多数生物医用级聚合物的聚合物打印机；(2)聚合物挤出机；(3)一台热重分析仪。新的基础设施将为广大HQP提供先进的3D聚合物打印技术培训机会，在这一迅速扩大的生物材料成型技术领域的非常关键的时刻。

Additive manufacturing of biomedical-grade polymers requires the use of dedicated equipment (3D printers) that enable the fabrication of objects of various levels of complexity, made from a variety of polymers with different mechanical and physico-chemical properties. 3D-printed biomedical polymers can be either very soft hydrogels, biological substances (e.g. extracellular matrix, collagen), or very strong and resistant high-performance thermoplastics (e.g. PEEK). Very often, biomedical objects must be fabricated with components combining different types of polymers. The polymers used as raw materials for 3D printing devices can be improved with a wide range of functional additives, such as contrast agents for MRI or C-ray visibility and radioisotopes for medical physics applications. Developing additive-enhanced biomedical-grade polymers requires the deployment of dedicated extruders within the 3D biomedical polymer printing facility. Finally, the new composite materials extruded for 3D printing applications must be precisely measured by thermogravimetric analysis to assess their behaviour and stability in the different ranges of temperature of the 3D printing operation. The requested infrastructure will be used by a highly productive and proactive team of research collaborators involved in the fields of biomedical engineering, nanotechnology, polymer forming, medical physics, biomedical imaging, and regenerative medicine. Several ongoing research projects are hindered by technological challenges related to the forming of polymer and hybrid (nano)materials of increasing levels of complexity. The requested infrastructure consists of (1) polymer printers covering the majority of biomedical-grade polymers; (2) polymer extruders; and (3) one thermogravimetric analyzer. The new infrastructure will be of significant benefit to a vast number of HQPs by providing advanced training opportunities with state-of-the art 3D polymer printing technology at a very critical time in this rapidly expanding area of biomaterial-forming technologies.