NSF Award
2301948
Bio-additive manufacturing (bio-AM) has shown great promise for the rapid manufacturing of highly customized biomedical devices and implants. However, one key barrier of bio-AM is that the print quality is substantially below the required industrial standards, partially because of the lack of effective in-situ monitoring and control methods for defect removal. This Engineering Research Initiation (ERI) grant will support basic research that aims to establish non-contact vibration-based monitoring to identify structural defects of bio-constructs as they are being fabricated. The research outcome is expected to create broad socioeconomic impacts on public health and biomedical fields by realizing the potential of bio-AM and strengthening US competitiveness in bioeconomy. The integrated research and educational program, aligned with the national priorities of biomanufacturing and biotechnology, will stimulate student interest in biomanufacturing, expose undergraduate and graduate students to the research frontiers of bio-AM, and develop the next-generation workforce ready for bioeconomy. <br/><br/>Understanding the formation mechanism of defects is critical for manufacturing high-quality biomaterials. Most existing sensing methods for biomaterials require that sensors be attached on the surface of additively manufactured parts. Due to the soft and light-weight nature of bio-constructs, contact-type sensors may not be suitable. The research objective is to understand how the non-contact, video-based vibration measurements are correlated with various types of defects. Three research tasks are planned: (1) identifying novel feature-based composite damage metrics that incorporate vibration features reflecting both dimensional and embedded defects; (2) establishing a reliable numerical model to understand how the modal properties of bio-constructs are affected by process conditions such as infill patterns and common defects; and (3) identifying the dynamic properties of bioprinting materials such as hydrogels via video-based vibrometry. The data generated from the project will provide a benchmark for the research community to advance research in biomanufacturing and biotechnology. If successful, this research will tremendously improve the structural integrity of bio-AM organs and increase the availability, ultimately saving lives. The proposed composite damage metrics based on vibration features will provide a new tool for automated in-situ assessment of defects and can accelerate sensing and analytics research in other fields.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
