Three Dimensional Printing of Bio Inspired Composites

Abstract

Optimized for millions of years, natural materials often outperform synthetic materials due to their hierarchical structures and multifunctional abilities. They usually feature a complex architecture that consists of simple building blocks. Indeed, many natural materials such as bone, nacre, hair, and spider silk, have outstanding material properties, making them applicable to engineering applications that may require both mechanical resilience and environmental compatibility. However, such natural materials are very difficult to harvest in bulk, and may be toxic in the way they occur naturally, and therefore, it is critical to use alternative methods to fabricate materials that have material functions similar to material function as their natural counterparts for largescale applications. Recent progress in additive manufacturing, especially the ability to print multiple materials at upper micrometer resolution, has given researchers an excellent instrument to design and reconstruct naturalinspired materials. The most advanced 3Dprinter can now be used to manufacture samples to emulate their geometry and material composition with high fidelity. Its capabilities, in combination with computational modeling, have provided us even more opportunities for designing, optimizing, and testing the function of composite materials, in order to achieve composites of high mechanical resilience and reliability. In this review article, we focus on the advanced material properties of several multifunctional biological materials and discuss how the advanced 3Dprinting techniques can be used to mimic their architectures and functions. Lastly, we discuss the limitations of 3Dprinting, suggest possible future developments, and discuss applications using bioinspired materials as a tool in bioengineering and other fields.