

Over the past few decades, additive manufacturing (AM) has become a reliable tool for prototyping and low-volume production. In recent years, the market share of such products has increased rapidly as these manufacturing concepts allow for greater part complexity compared to conventional manufacturing technologies. Furthermore, as recyclability and biocompatibility have become more important in material selection, biopolymers have also become widely used in AM. This article provides an overview of AM with advanced biopolymers in fields from medicine to food packaging. Various AM technologies are presented, focusing on the biopolymers used, selected part fabrication strategies, and influential parameters of the technologies presented. It should be emphasized that inkjet bioprinting, stereolithography, selective laser sintering, fused deposition modeling, extrusion-based bioprinting, and scaffold-free printing are the most commonly used AM technologies for the production of parts from advanced biopolymers. Achievable part complexity will be discussed with emphasis on manufacturable features, layer thickness, production accuracy, materials applied, and part strength in correlation with key AM technologies and their parameters crucial for producing representative examples, anatomical models, specialized medical instruments, medical implants, time-dependent prosthetic features, etc. Future trends of advanced biopolymers focused on establishing target-time-dependent part properties through 4D additive manufacturing are also discussed. © 2023 by the authors.
| Engineering controlled terms: | AdditivesBiocompatibilityBiomoleculesBiopolymersCompetitionLaser heatingMedical applicationsScaffolds (biology)Sintering |
|---|---|
| Engineering uncontrolled terms | Additive manufacturing technologyConventional manufacturingInfluence of process parametersLow-volume productionManufacturing conceptsManufacturing technologiesMarket sharePart complexityProcess parametersTime dependent |
| Engineering main heading: | 3D printing |
| Funding sponsor | Funding number | Acronym |
|---|---|---|
| Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS | 142-451-2671/2021-01/02,P2-0248 | ARRS |
| Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS | ARRS | |
| Provincial Secretariat for Higher Education and Scientific Research, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina |
This research was funded by the Slovenian Research Agency, research core program No. P2-0248 and research project Collaborative systems in the digital industrial environment No. 142-451-2671/2021-01/02 supported by Provincial Secretariat for Higher Education and Scientific Research of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.
Pepelnjak, T.; Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Aškerčeva 6, Ljubljana, Slovenia;
© Copyright 2023 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.