Design and Development of Polymeric Ink Material for a Solvent-Cast Direct-Write 3D Printer

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is among the ongoing methods to produce the bioresorbable polymeric stent. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is the most common 3D printer to print the polymer while solvent-cast printing (SCP) is another alternative approach to print a wide range of polymers. Despite the availability of these various 3D printing techniques, combining these two techniques to be a solvent-cast direct-write 3D printing will enable a better production methodology for stent fabrication. This technique can produce a better polymeric stent by having the solvent to be printed through the nozzle similar to an FDM printer head. However, a suitable polymeric material ink must be made to suit this purpose. Thus, this work aims to examine the suitable material to be used as a polymeric ink for the printer. Since poly-L-lactic-acid (PLLA), polylactides (PLA), and polycaprolactone (PCL) have been widely used for the bioresorbable polymeric stents, these materials will be used for the experiments. PLLA, PLC, and PLA will be dissolved in volatile solvents, i.e., chloroform and methylene chloride. The filament shape of the polymers will later be drawn on the 150 mm glass petri dish by using the syringe. PLLA, PLA, and PCL took more time to dissolve in methylene chloride compared to chloroform. PLLA mixture hardened rather quickly inside the syringe thus causing more forces to print the PLLA mixture on a petri dish. This simple experiment is needed to ensure that the polymeric ink can flow through the printer nozzle. The polymeric ink must be hardened at the appropriate time when they exit the nozzle.