Development of Bioimplants with 2D, 3D, and 4D Additive Manufacturing Materials

Over the past 30 years, additive manufacturing (AM) has developed rapidly and has demonstrated great potential in biomedical applications. AM is a materials-oriented manufacturing technology, since the solidification mechanism, architecture resolution, post-treatment process, and functional application are based on the materials to be printed. However, 3D printable materials are still quite limited for the fabrication of bioimplants. In this work, 2D/3D AM materials for bioimplants are reviewed. Furthermore, inspired by Tai Chi, a simple yet novel soft/rigid hybrid 4D AM concept is advanced to develop complex and dynamic biological structures in the human body based on 4D printing hybrid ceramic precursor/ceramic materials that were previously developed by our group. With the development of multi-material printing technology, the development of bioimplants and soft/rigid hybrid biological structures with 2D/3D/4D AM materials can be anticipated.