A Parallel Multiple Layer Cryolithography Device for the Manufacture of Biological Material for Tissue Engineering

Abstract

While three-dimensional (3D) printing of biological matter is of increasing interest, current linear 3D printing processes lack the efficiency at scale required to mass manufacture products made of biological matter. This paper introduces a device for a newly developed parallel additive manufacturing technology for production of 3D objects, which addresses the need for faster, industrial scale additive manufacturing methods. The technology uses multilayer cryolithography (MLCL) to make biological products faster and in larger quantities by simultaneously printing two-dimensional (2D) layers in parallel and assembling the layers into a 3D structure at an assembly site, instead of sequentially and linearly assembling a 3D object from individual elements as in conventional 3D printing. The technique uses freezing to bind the 2D layers together into a 3D object. This paper describes the basic principles of MLCL and demonstrates the technology with a new device used to manufacture a very simple product that could be used for tissue engineering, as an example. An evaluation of the interlayer bonding shows that a continuous and coherent structure can be made from the assembly of distinct layers using MLCL.