Fast 3D printing of fine, continuous, and soft fibers via embedded solvent exchange
Abstract Nature uses fibrous structures for sensing and structural functions as observed in hairs, whiskers, stereocilia, spider silks, and hagfish slime thread skeins. Here, we demonstrate multi-nozzle printing of 3D hair arrays having freeform trajectories at a very high rate, with fiber diameters...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-55972-1 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832585554880888832 |
|---|---|
| author | Wonsik Eom Mohammad Tanver Hossain Vidush Parasramka Jeongmin Kim Ryan W. Y. Siu Kate A. Sanders Dakota Piorkowski Andrew Lowe Hyun Gi Koh Michael F. L. De Volder Douglas S. Fudge Randy H. Ewoldt Sameh H. Tawfick |
| author_facet | Wonsik Eom Mohammad Tanver Hossain Vidush Parasramka Jeongmin Kim Ryan W. Y. Siu Kate A. Sanders Dakota Piorkowski Andrew Lowe Hyun Gi Koh Michael F. L. De Volder Douglas S. Fudge Randy H. Ewoldt Sameh H. Tawfick |
| author_sort | Wonsik Eom |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Nature uses fibrous structures for sensing and structural functions as observed in hairs, whiskers, stereocilia, spider silks, and hagfish slime thread skeins. Here, we demonstrate multi-nozzle printing of 3D hair arrays having freeform trajectories at a very high rate, with fiber diameters as fine as 1.5 µm, continuous lengths reaching tens of centimeters, and a wide range of materials with elastic moduli from 5 MPa to 3500 MPa. This is achieved via 3D printing by rapid solvent exchange in high yield stress micro granular gel, leading to radial solidification of the extruded polymer filament at a rate of 2.33 μm/s. This process extrudes filaments at 5 mm/s, which is 500,000 times faster than meniscus printing owing to the rapid solidification which prevents capillarity-induced fiber breakage. This study demonstrates the potential of 3D printing by rapid solvent exchange as a fast and scalable process for replicating natural fibrous structures for use in biomimetic functions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2e3e8ddbbb684cd8b0d4f7def69ec098 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-2e3e8ddbbb684cd8b0d4f7def69ec0982025-01-26T12:40:24ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-01-0116111510.1038/s41467-025-55972-1Fast 3D printing of fine, continuous, and soft fibers via embedded solvent exchangeWonsik Eom0Mohammad Tanver Hossain1Vidush Parasramka2Jeongmin Kim3Ryan W. Y. Siu4Kate A. Sanders5Dakota Piorkowski6Andrew Lowe7Hyun Gi Koh8Michael F. L. De Volder9Douglas S. Fudge10Randy H. Ewoldt11Sameh H. Tawfick12Department of Fiber Convergence Material Engineering, Dankook UniversityDepartment of Mechanical Science and Engineering, The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignDepartment of Mechanical Science and Engineering, The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignDepartment of Mechanical Science and Engineering, The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignDepartment of Mechanical Science and Engineering, The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignDepartment of Engineering, University of CambridgeSchmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman UniversitySchmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman UniversityDepartment of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Hongik UniversityDepartment of Engineering, University of CambridgeSchmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman UniversityDepartment of Mechanical Science and Engineering, The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignDepartment of Mechanical Science and Engineering, The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignAbstract Nature uses fibrous structures for sensing and structural functions as observed in hairs, whiskers, stereocilia, spider silks, and hagfish slime thread skeins. Here, we demonstrate multi-nozzle printing of 3D hair arrays having freeform trajectories at a very high rate, with fiber diameters as fine as 1.5 µm, continuous lengths reaching tens of centimeters, and a wide range of materials with elastic moduli from 5 MPa to 3500 MPa. This is achieved via 3D printing by rapid solvent exchange in high yield stress micro granular gel, leading to radial solidification of the extruded polymer filament at a rate of 2.33 μm/s. This process extrudes filaments at 5 mm/s, which is 500,000 times faster than meniscus printing owing to the rapid solidification which prevents capillarity-induced fiber breakage. This study demonstrates the potential of 3D printing by rapid solvent exchange as a fast and scalable process for replicating natural fibrous structures for use in biomimetic functions.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-55972-1 |
| spellingShingle | Wonsik Eom Mohammad Tanver Hossain Vidush Parasramka Jeongmin Kim Ryan W. Y. Siu Kate A. Sanders Dakota Piorkowski Andrew Lowe Hyun Gi Koh Michael F. L. De Volder Douglas S. Fudge Randy H. Ewoldt Sameh H. Tawfick Fast 3D printing of fine, continuous, and soft fibers via embedded solvent exchange Nature Communications |
| title | Fast 3D printing of fine, continuous, and soft fibers via embedded solvent exchange |
| title_full | Fast 3D printing of fine, continuous, and soft fibers via embedded solvent exchange |
| title_fullStr | Fast 3D printing of fine, continuous, and soft fibers via embedded solvent exchange |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fast 3D printing of fine, continuous, and soft fibers via embedded solvent exchange |
| title_short | Fast 3D printing of fine, continuous, and soft fibers via embedded solvent exchange |
| title_sort | fast 3d printing of fine continuous and soft fibers via embedded solvent exchange |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-55972-1 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT wonsikeom fast3dprintingoffinecontinuousandsoftfibersviaembeddedsolventexchange AT mohammadtanverhossain fast3dprintingoffinecontinuousandsoftfibersviaembeddedsolventexchange AT vidushparasramka fast3dprintingoffinecontinuousandsoftfibersviaembeddedsolventexchange AT jeongminkim fast3dprintingoffinecontinuousandsoftfibersviaembeddedsolventexchange AT ryanwysiu fast3dprintingoffinecontinuousandsoftfibersviaembeddedsolventexchange AT kateasanders fast3dprintingoffinecontinuousandsoftfibersviaembeddedsolventexchange AT dakotapiorkowski fast3dprintingoffinecontinuousandsoftfibersviaembeddedsolventexchange AT andrewlowe fast3dprintingoffinecontinuousandsoftfibersviaembeddedsolventexchange AT hyungikoh fast3dprintingoffinecontinuousandsoftfibersviaembeddedsolventexchange AT michaelfldevolder fast3dprintingoffinecontinuousandsoftfibersviaembeddedsolventexchange AT douglassfudge fast3dprintingoffinecontinuousandsoftfibersviaembeddedsolventexchange AT randyhewoldt fast3dprintingoffinecontinuousandsoftfibersviaembeddedsolventexchange AT samehhtawfick fast3dprintingoffinecontinuousandsoftfibersviaembeddedsolventexchange |