Page 217 - IJB-9-4

International Journal of Bioprinting

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Computational simulation-based comparative

analysis of standard 3D printing and conical
nozzles for pneumatic and piston-driven

bioprinting

Juan Carlos Gómez-Blanco , J. Blas Pagador *, Victor P. Galván-Chacón ,
1,2
1
1
Luisa F. Sánchez-Peralta , Manuel Matamoros , Alfonso Marcos ,
3
3
1
Francisco M. Sánchez-Margallo 2,4,5
1 Bioengineering and Health Technology Unit, Jesús Usón Minimally Invasive Surgery Centre,
Cáceres, Spain
2 TERAV/ISCIII, Red Española de Terapias Avanzadas, Spain
3 School of Industrial Engineering, University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain
4 Scientific Direction, Jesús Usón Minimally Invasive Surgery Centre, Cáceres, Spain
5 Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red - Enfermedades Cardiovasculares (CIBER CV),
Madrid, Spain

Abstract
Bioprinting is an application of additive manufacturing that can deliver promising
*Corresponding author: results in regenerative medicine. Hydrogels, as the most used materials in
J. Blas Pagador bioprinting, are experimentally analyzed to assure printability and suitability for
(jbpagador@ccmijesususon.com)
cell culture. Besides hydrogel features, the inner geometry of the microextrusion
Citation: Gómez-Blanco JC, head might have an equal impact not only on printability but also on cellular
Pagador JB, Galván-Chacón VP, viability. In this regard, standard 3D printing nozzles have been widely studied
et al., 2023, Computational
simulation-based comparative to reduce inner pressure and get faster printings using highly viscous melted
analysis of standard 3D printing and polymers. Computational fluid dynamics is a useful tool capable of simulating and
conical nozzles for pneumatic and predicting the hydrogel behavior when the extruder inner geometry is modified.
piston-driven bioprinting.
Int J Bioprint, 9(4): 730. Hence, the objective of this work is to comparatively study the performance of a
https://doi.org/10.18063/ijb.730 standard 3D printing and conical nozzles in a microextrusion bioprinting process
Received: December 07, 2022 through computational simulation. Three bioprinting parameters, namely pressure,
Accepted: February 04, 2023 velocity, and shear stress, were calculated using the level-set method, considering
Published Online: April 10, 2023 a 22G conical tip and a 0.4 mm nozzle. Additionally, two microextrusion models,
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s). pneumatic and piston-driven, were simulated using dispensing pressure (15 kPa)
This is an Open Access article and volumetric flow (10 mm /s) as input, respectively. The results showed that
3
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution the standard nozzle is suitable for bioprinting procedures. Specifically, the inner
License, permitting distribution geometry of the nozzle increases the flow rate, while reducing the dispensing
and reproduction in any medium, pressure and maintaining similar shear stress compared to the conical tip commonly
provided the original work is
properly cited. used in bioprinting.
Publisher’s Note: Whioce
Publishing remains neutral with Keywords: Bioprinting; Computational simulation; Bioink; Nozzle; Level-set method;
regard to jurisdictional claims in Non-Newtonian fluid
published maps and institutional
affiliations.

Volume 9 Issue 4 (2023) 209 https://doi.org/10.18063/ijb.730