WIDE FORMAT COLUMN Wide-Format news in brief 3D-printed cartilage increasingly possible Pain, stiffness and swelling between joints are major symptoms of arthritis. <strong>The</strong> disease breaks down the flexible cartilage joint tissue. Horizon, a European magazine, reports that bioinks – 3D printed cartilage from a person’s own cells, inserted into the joint, may stimulate the joint to heal. <strong>The</strong>se bioinks contain stem cells printed to make living tissue inserts. It is hoped to reduce the effects of the disease in those who suffer from it. <strong>The</strong> 3D printer engages in bioprinting – printing tissue on demand using patients’ own cells as the building blocks. Horizon magazine reports that Professor Jos Malda is using 3D bioprinting within his lab at the University Medical Centre Utrecht in the Netherlands in a project called 3D-JOINT. <strong>The</strong> idea is to implant bioprinted tissue into living joints, replacing those damaged, and the tissue becomes like the original healthy cartilage. Complex bioprinted tissues using stem cells are already in current technology. But Professor Malda explains that is only one step in the process, with needed time and correct chemical and biophysical cues to become tissue that is functional. Plastic is used in sintering 3D printers, shot through a printer’s nozzle at a high enough temperature to keep it shape. Maintaining shape is part of the challenge with bioinks using living cells. Hydrogel, which consists of polymers swollen with water, are being experimented with as one solution. Even hydrogel can break down in the friction of a joint. Professor Malda and his team is working with additives that will make the hydrogel additive stronger so it can replace cartilage. <strong>The</strong> professor’s team uses melt electrowriting, a 3D-printing technique that combines melted polycaprolactone, a type of polyester, with a fiber-creating electrical fieldcreating fiber as thin as a hair. Using these microfibers, Horizon magazine reports “the team creates scaffolding to be combined with the cellcontaining hydrogel – already with good results.” Some are using similar techniques in the body to repair damaged tissues. JointPrinting is what Professor Daniel Kelly at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, calls its system. <strong>The</strong>y have had some success regenerating damaged tissue in animals. His bioinks are printable and spur stem cells to make new cartilage by altering the molecules that support and surround the printed cells, instructing them to generate the correct type of tissue, Horizon magazine reports the idea is that newly-printed stem cells can help repair damaged tissue after they are implanted in the body. Growth factors stimulate formation of blood vessels in injured tissue, and stimulating substances are introduced into the body. R 3D filament made from recycled trash Recycled waste is now being used for filament for 3D printing material, according to 3D Printing Materials magazine. In a full-circle project, you could even make a wastebasket out of the material using a 3D printer. To make the “Landfillament,” Solid waste is subjected to pyrolysis, which is defined as the chemical decomposition of organic (carbonbased) materials through the application of heat. 3D Printing Materials magazine reports a number of companies are working to make greed products to make 3D printing more environmentally sustainable, as 3D printing can demand a lot of energy. 3-D Fuel, a North Dakota, USA materials company, makes the Landfillament, by removing metals from the mixture, before using pyrolysis, according to 3D Printing Materials magazine, and thorough thermochemical decomposition, a “char” byproduct results that can be used as 3D printing filament. To make MSW into a printable material, 3D- Fuel first removes all metals from the mix, before running the remaining waste through a process called pyrolysis. Through this process, which involves the thermochemical decomposition of organic material at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen, a char byproduct is created, which can eventually be used as 3D printing filament. For each spool, the Landfillament saves 0.909 pounds (0.41 kilograms) of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, of about the amount of greenhouse gas from car emissions in 1.1 miles (1.6 kilometres). 3D-Fuel has also developed materials made from coffee, beer, and hemp. R Editor’s Note: Neal McChristy is a freelance writer with over 35 years journalism experience in magazine, newspaper and Web-based work. He has been contributing editor for magazine columns in the wide-format industry for 18 years. He also has over 20 years’ experience as reporter and editor in the printing and imaging area. He likes to correspond with readers and can be reached at freelance9@cox.net. 48 THE RECYCLER • ISSUE <strong>316</strong> • MARCH 2019
Reuse for a brighter future Etira reuse campaign – www.etira.org/reuse THE RECYCLER • ISSUE <strong>316</strong> • MARCH 2019 49
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