Design and fabricating extruder for bio-material 3D printers

Abstract

AM technology, also known as 3D printing technology, is known as a new group of manufacturing technologies with great potential. Currently, this technology has been researched and applied in many important fields. One of them is making biological models. With the investment in researching this area will provide great promise for the development of implantable products in medicine and related professions. However, the cost to invest in a biological 3D printing device is currently very high and difficult to access. Therefore, the goal of the research team is to design and fabricate a low-cost 3D biological printing device to create the first step in the production of such devices in Vietnam, in which, focusing on the important parts. The important factor that not only determines the fabrication ability but also affects the quality of the product produced is the feeding and extrusion of biological materials. To evaluate the working ability of the extruder assembly, the authors conducted tests to check the characteristics of materials and technical parameters on different samples. The results obtained in the paper include successfully fabricating and testing of the material feeder and extruder assemblies in fabricating 3D printed samples using biological materials. Based on the results obtained above, to continue developing, design the extruder with integrated heater and design a nozzle with a new drive mechanism to accommodate a wide variety of biomaterials.