Background
3D printing techniques, also known as additive manufacturing, form three-dimensionally shaped objects by sequentially depositing materials layer by layer. The 3D printing technology reveals a completely new way of producing components, and the potential development of this technology in the field of biological tissue engineering has now developed as an important tool for the production of biological constructs with regenerative purposes or for use as tissue models. Extrusion-based 3D printing is one of the most common ways of manufacturing biological tissue models, and extrusion-based 3D printing facilities mainly include mechanical or pneumatic dispensing systems that deposit biological material onto a platform continuously, layer by layer, through a nozzle (print head) of the dispensing system. The extrusion-based 3D printing method is easy to program, the viscosity range of the printed biological material is the widest, but the technology has the limitation that the biological material needs to generate shear stress.
The 3D printed material used for biomedical tissue models also requires properties such as certain stretchability, i.e. adjustable mechanical properties and biodegradability. The following problems exist in the biological materials used in the current 3D printing: the synthetic material with higher mechanical strength has poor biodegradability, and part of biological materials from natural sources cannot meet the requirements of mechanical performance in printing and application. Synthetic materials such as polyurethane are not only time consuming and energy consuming to synthesize, but also degrade slowly, preventing their widespread use, and biologically derived hydrogels based on starch, alginate, etc. are inexpensive and degrade rapidly, but do not provide sufficient mechanical integrity under high load conditions.
Disclosure of Invention
Aiming at the defects in the field, the invention aims to provide a preparation method of a biodegradable 3D printing gel, and the preparation method can be used for adjusting the mechanical properties such as elasticity of the product.
The second purpose of the invention is to propose the preparation method of the 3D printing gel.
A third object of the invention is to propose a method for 3D printing using said 3D printing gel.
The technical scheme for realizing the aim of the invention is as follows:
a method of preparing a biodegradable 3D printing gel, comprising the operations of:
(1) preparing citric acid, glycerin and water into a solution, wherein the mass ratio of the citric acid to the glycerin to the water is 1: (2-10): (2-10);
(2) mixing glucose syrup with the solution obtained in the step (1), wherein the mass ratio of the glucose syrup to the citric acid is (5-9): 1;
(3) adding gelatin into the solution obtained in the step (2), wherein the mass ratio of the gelatin to the citric acid is (3-15): 1.
for convenience of operation, in the step (1), the raw material is preferably heated to 50-80 ℃ to prepare a solution.
More preferably, in the step (2), the glucose syrup is heated to 50-80 ℃ to reduce the viscosity of the glucose syrup, and then is mixed with the solution obtained in the step (1).
According to the preparation method, the elasticity of the printed product is adjusted by adjusting the adding ratio of the glycerol to the water, and the larger the using amount of the glycerol is, the larger the elasticity of the obtained printed object is.
When the adding proportion of the glycerol and the water is different, the elasticity of the product is different, and the restorable degree of the elastic deformation is different. When the gel is elastically deformed, the gel can be recovered to the original state within a short time, but the recovery degree is different, and the larger the addition amount of the glycerol is, the better the toughness of the gel is, and the easier the recovery is. Preferably, the mass ratio of the glycerol to the water is (8-10): (2-3). At this ratio, the printed product has elasticity to substantially completely recover the shape after deformation.
The method can adjust the elasticity of the product, compares the change degree of the glycerol addition on the elasticity of the printed product in the test, and the main mechanical property of the product is mainly determined by the material (gelatin and the like).
The 3D printing gel prepared by the preparation method is provided by the invention.
A method of 3D printing using said 3D printing gel, comprising the operations of:
s1, filling the 3D printing gel into a printing tube and removing bubbles;
s2 inputs a print pattern to print.
According to a preferable technical scheme, the 3D printing gel is heated to 50-80 ℃ and then is filled into a printing tube.
In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the bubble removal method in step S1 is centrifugation under the following conditions: rotating at 8000-15000 rpm, and centrifuging for 5-20 min.
In step S2, the print parameters are: the printing temperature is 20-30 ℃, and the printing height is 0.1-0.7 mm.
Furthermore, the extrusion rate during printing is 20-50 mm/s, and the diameter of the nozzle is 0.3-1.0 mm.
The invention has the beneficial effects that:
according to the preparation method of the 3D printing gel, the stable processing performance and the processing condition of the gel, namely the elasticity is adjusted by adjusting the proportion of water and glycerol; the addition of citric acid can adjust the pH environment of the gel and inhibit the growth of microorganisms; all selected materials are food-grade, environment-friendly and easy to degrade.
The composite hydrogel prepared by the invention combines various bio-based materials, each material has unique functions, and simultaneously, the combination of various bio-based materials ensures that the gel printed product has adjustable elastic property and biodegradability. The used material gelatin is a main polymer forming a gel network, can be easily derived, has easy degradation and good biocompatibility, has moderate elasticity in the air, and is not easy to generate plastic deformation; the addition of glucose syrup enhances the extensibility of the gel.
Detailed Description
The following examples are intended to illustrate the invention but should not be construed as limiting the scope thereof. In the examples, all the means used are conventional in the art unless otherwise specified.
Example 1
A preparation method of 3D printing gel with adjustable mechanical property and biodegradability comprises the following steps:
(1) dissolving 1g of citric acid and 5g of glycerol in 8g of deionized water, and heating to 60 ℃ to prepare a solution;
(2) 7g of glucose syrup was heated to 60 ℃ to lower its viscosity, and mixed with the solution obtained in (1).
(3) And (3) cooling the solution prepared in the step (2) to room temperature, adding 4g of gelatin powder, and uniformly mixing.
Printing example 1
The mixture obtained in example 1 was heated in an oven at 70 ℃ for 1 hour, stirred uniformly, loaded into a printing tube, and centrifuged at 10000rpm for 10min to remove air bubbles.
Setting the printing parameters as follows: the printing temperature is 25 ℃, the printing height is 0.5mm, the extrusion rate is 30mm/s, and the diameter of a nozzle is 0.5 mm;
after the print pattern was entered in the printer, printing was started with the hydrogel.
Example 2:
substantially the same production method as in example 1 was employed except that 4g of glycerin was added in step (3) dissolved in 8g of deionized water.
Example 3
Substantially the same production method as in example 1 was employed except that 9g of glycerin was added in step (3) dissolved in 3g of deionized water.
Example 4
Substantially the same production method as in example 1 was employed except that 10g of glycerin was added in step (3) dissolved in 2g of deionized water.
Printing examples 2 to 4
The same printing method as in printing example 1 was used, and a sample having the same shape was printed, the sample specification was 1cm by 0.3cm by 3cm, and the sample was left to stand at room temperature for 20 days and then left to stand.
The specific gel component ratios are shown in table 1, the simple evaluation results of the elasticity degrees under different glycerin and water ratios are shown in table 1, and the simple evaluation method of the elasticity degrees comprises the following steps: the gel is placed on a glass slide, and can keep a vertical state and a good shape in a standing state. The gel was manually bent by 90 degrees, and after releasing the hand, the degree of recovery of the bent state of the gel was recorded after 5 seconds.
TABLE 1 gel composition ratios and properties of printed products
Although the present invention has been described in detail hereinabove, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and improvements can be made thereto based on the present invention. Accordingly, such modifications and improvements are intended to be within the scope of the invention as claimed.