Analysis and Design of the Additive Manufacturing Process for Artificial Cornea
Date Issued
2016
Date
2016
Author(s)
Chen, Ching-Jen
Abstract
The cornea is the outermost part of the eye and a highly transparent organization without vessels. However, due to injury, infection or disease, the cornea can cause bleaching or transmittance decline. In the worldwide, more than millions people are blind due to corneal problems. The global need for artificial cornea is driven by both the population that cannot tolerate donor corneas and the severe shortage of donor corneas. Additive manufacturing provides the opportunity to produce substitutes of the native tissues, and, in turn, to produce customized tissue constructs. This study aims to analyze and design various additive manufacturing processes for artificial cornea. COMSOL simulation presents the deformation of the corneal structure during fabrication. Moreover, 3D printing enables accurate temperature and pressure control in construction on corneal structure during dispensing and photo-curing of diacrylate-terminated Poloxamer 407 (P407DA) hydrogel. With the precise control at ambient temperature (15°C) and additional air pressure support (45 Pa), fabricated corneas can be formed with a smooth surface and light transmission all over 82% in the range of visible light by additive manufacturing process.
Subjects
Additive manufacturing
artificial cornea
3D printing
photo-curing
Poloxamer
Type
thesis
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ntu-105-R03522817-1.pdf
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