FILAMENT WIDTH CONTROL BY EXTRUSION PRESSURE AND SOLID LOAD OF NANO-FIBER FILLED ALGINATE- GELATIN HYBRID HYDROGEL: AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting has emerged as a groundbreaking technology in tissue engineering, offering precise control over scaffold architecture for regenerative medicine applications. To tackle the printability and shape fidelity related issues of 3D bio printed scaffolds fabricated by mostly hydrogel materials in extrusion-based bioprinting process, the study fabricates a set of filaments using alginate, gelatin, and TEMPO mediated Nano-Fibrillated Cellulose (TO-NFC) components and solid loads. We hypothesize that when alginate-gelatin combined with nano-fiber reinforcements, such as TEMPO-oxidized nano-fibrillated cellulose (TO-NFC), the resulting composite materials exhibit improved mechanical properties, making them an ideal choice for 3D bioprinting. The filament widths and corresponding diffusion rate of each composition at various applied pressures were analyzed and recorded. Finally, an analytical relationship was established using multiple regression methods to estimate the filament width with respect to extrusion pressure and solid load of those components. The findings suggest that this method holds great promise for the creation of precisely shaped scaffolds through 3D bioprinting, opening new possibilities in tissue regeneration.