Microfluidic Printheads for Multimaterial 3D Printing of Viscoelastic Inks

James O Hardin; Thomas J Ober; Alexander D Valentine; Jennifer A Lewis

doi:10.1002/adma.201500222

Microfluidic Printheads for Multimaterial 3D Printing of Viscoelastic Inks

Adv Mater. 2015 Jun 3;27(21):3279-84. doi: 10.1002/adma.201500222. Epub 2015 Apr 17.

Authors

James O Hardin¹, Thomas J Ober¹, Alexander D Valentine¹, Jennifer A Lewis¹

Affiliation

¹ Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.

PMID: 25885762
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201500222

Abstract

Multimaterial 3D printing using microfluidic printheads specifically designed for seamless switching between two visco-elastic materials "on-the-fly" during fabrication is demonstrated. This approach opens new avenues for the digital assembly of functional matter with controlled compositional and property gradients at the microscale.

Keywords: 3D printing; ink; microfluidics; multi-material; viscoelastic.