Electrospinning Artificial Heart Valves

When you consider additive manufacturing, ideas naturally flip to that hot-glue squirting CNC machine sitting in your bench and squeezing no matter plastic doodad you want. However 3D printing isn’t the one technique to construct polymer buildings, as [Riley] exhibits us with this fascinating attempt to create electrospun heart valves.

Now, you could by no means have heard of electrospinning, however we’ll enterprise a guess that as quickly as you see what it entails, you’ll have a “Why didn’t I consider that?” second. As [Riley] explains, electrospinning makes use of an electrical area to construct buildings from superb threads of liquid polymer resolution — he makes use of polycaprolactone (PCL), a biodegradable polyester we’ve seen utilized in other medical applications, which he dissolves in acetone. He masses it right into a syringe, attaches the optimistic terminal of a high-voltage energy provide to the hypodermic needle, and the unfavorable terminal to a sheet of aluminum foil. The cost turns the PCL droplets into superb threads that accumulate on the foil; as soon as the solvent flashes off, what’s left is a gossamer layer of non-woven plastic material.

To discover the makes use of of this materials, [Riley] selected to make a synthetic coronary heart valve. This required a 3D-printed framework with three prongs, painted with conductive paint. He tried a couple of variations on the design earlier than deciding on a two-piece armature affixed to a rotating shaft. The PCL accumulates on the shape, making a one-piece construction that may be gingerly slipped off because of a little bit silicon grease used as a launch agent.

The outcomes are fairly spectacular. The construction bears a robust resemblance to a synthetic tricuspid coronary heart valve, with three delicate leaves suspended between the upright prongs. It’s only a proof of idea, after all, but it surely’s an incredible demonstration of the potential of electrospinning, in addition to an eye-opening take a look at what else additive manufacturing has to supply.

[embedded content]