Chapter 14
4D Printing and Its Biomedical Applications
Saeed Akbari,
Yuan-Fang Zhang,
Dong Wang,
Qi Ge,
Saeed Akbari
Singapore University of Technology and Design, Digital Manufacturing and Design Centre, Singapore, 487372 Singapore
Search for more papers by this authorYuan-Fang Zhang
Singapore University of Technology and Design, Digital Manufacturing and Design Centre, Singapore, 487372 Singapore
Search for more papers by this authorDong Wang
Singapore University of Technology and Design, Digital Manufacturing and Design Centre, Singapore, 487372 Singapore
Search for more papers by this authorQi Ge
Singapore University of Technology and Design, Digital Manufacturing and Design Centre, Singapore, 487372 Singapore
Search for more papers by this authorSaeed Akbari,
Yuan-Fang Zhang,
Dong Wang,
Qi Ge,
Saeed Akbari
Singapore University of Technology and Design, Digital Manufacturing and Design Centre, Singapore, 487372 Singapore
Search for more papers by this authorYuan-Fang Zhang
Singapore University of Technology and Design, Digital Manufacturing and Design Centre, Singapore, 487372 Singapore
Search for more papers by this authorDong Wang
Singapore University of Technology and Design, Digital Manufacturing and Design Centre, Singapore, 487372 Singapore
Search for more papers by this authorQi Ge
Singapore University of Technology and Design, Digital Manufacturing and Design Centre, Singapore, 487372 Singapore
Search for more papers by this authorBook Editor(s):Mohammed Maniruzzaman,
Mohammed Maniruzzaman
School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK, BN1 9QG
Search for more papers by this authorSummary
This chapter discusses the potentials of 4D printing as the next-generation technology to fabricate complex 3D biomedical devices and biological structures exhibiting dynamic shape change capability. It introduces state-of-the-art 3Dprinting technologies with potential applications to 4D printing. The chapter reviews a number of soft active materials (SAMs) that are widely used in 4D printing. Some recent applications of 4D printing in biomedical engineering are presented in detail. The future perspectives of 4D printing in creating novel biomedical devices and bioinspired architectures that can be activated by external stimuli to create highly complex shapes are discussed. The chapter also presents several examples of the application of 4D printing in biomedical field, with special focus on temperature and humidity-sensitive biostructures. Hydrogels are widely used to fabricate scaffolds for tissue engineering applications because they exhibit the features of a natural matrix that creates highly hydrated permeable microenvironments with tunable chemical and mechanical properties appropriate for cell culture.
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