3D Printed Tubular Scaffolds with Massively Tailorable Mechanical Behavior

Melt electrowriting (MEW) is a promising additive manufacturing technique for tissue scaffold biofabrication. Successful application of MEW scaffolds requires strictly controlled mechanical behavior. This requires scaffold geometry be optimized to match native tissue properties while simultaneously supporting cell attachment and proliferation. The objective of this work is to investigate how geometric properties can be exploited to massively tailor the mechanical behavior of tubular crosshatch scaffolds. An experimentally validated finite element (FE) model is developed and 441 scaffold geometries are investigated under tension, compression, bending, and radial loading. A range of pore areas (4-150 mm(2 ) and pore angles (11 degrees-134 degrees) are investigated. It is found that scaffold mechanical behavior is massively tunable through the control of these simple geometric parameters. Across the ranges investigated, scaffold stiffness varies by a factor of 294x for tension, 204x for compression, 231x for bending, and 124x for radial loading. Further, it is discussed how these geometric parameters can be simultaneously tuned for different biomimetic material applications. This work provides critical insights into scaffold design to achieve biomimetic mechanical behavior and provides an important tool in the development of biomimetic tissue engineered constructs.

Automated summary

Melt electrowriting (MEW) is a promising additive manufacturing technique for tissue scaffold biofabrication. This study investigates how geometric properties can be used to tune the mechanical behavior of tubular crosshatch scaffolds. The findings demonstrate that scaffold stiffness can be massively adjusted by controlling simple geometric parameters, providing critical insights into scaffold design for biomimetic mechanical behavior and important tools for biomimetic tissue engineering.