Jadyn Taylor
Research Mentor(s): Abdon Pena-Francesch
Mentor Department: Materials Science and Engineering
Authors: Jadyn Taylor, Yiqun Li, Abdon Pena-Francesch
Session: Session 1 (9:00am – 9:50am)
Presentation Type: Poster 5
Abstract
The ability to 3D print soft tissues and modify their properties is crucial for increasing patient access to compatible implants. However, one of the challenges we currently face is being able to develop silicone formulations with mechanical properties matching soft tissues. Current protocols were unable to tune or manipulate the modulus, so we have developed new formulation approach for a Digital Light Processing (DLP) 3D printer. Here we created a series of silicone formulations with non-reactive silicone oil to tune the viscosity and modulus of the ink materials. Photocrosslinking kinetics and viscosity were characterized in order to test our varying formulations. When a higher fraction of silicone oil was added, the polymer would become softer after curing was induced. This is because silicone oil isn’t able to crosslink with the silicone network leading to a lower crosslinking density and modulus. Additionally, our formulations were composed of silicone oil, vinyl terminated silicone, photocrosslinkable silicone, and photoinitiator, which were used to create a series of photocrosslinkable polymers. Overall, this helped us determine whether we could tailor these elastomers for DLP additive manufacturing.
