Applications of Additive Manufacturing to Tissue Engineering

Due to rapid-fabrication of the different models, high-precision of produced parts and customized production rate of the manufacturing methodology, Additive Manufacturing (AM), 3-dimensional (3D) printing technologies and rapid prototyping (RP) systems are recently developed in many applications. Complex geometries, porosities, co-culture of multiple cells, can be created and incorporate growth factors can also be considered by using 3D printing systems. In the research work, applications of additive manufacturing systems in bioengineering products are presented. Finite element analysis can be used to analyze the mechanical properties of the structure in order to detect weak components of the entire scaffold and prevent structural failure in real working conditions. Furthermore, topology optimization methods are developed in order to obtain the best use of material for designed scaffolds which are subjected to either a single load or a multiple load distribution. As a result, “shape” optimization as well as “layout” optimization can be obtained in order to increase efficiency of part manufacturing.