Fabrication of Three-Dimensional Tissue Scaffold Arrays Using Laser Foaming

Abstract

The goal of our research is to develop a manufacturing method to create 3D cell-based microarrays for biomedical applications. Cells will be cultured in a large array of microscaled tissue engineering scaffolds that are fabricated on a polymer chip. In this paper, we present an experimental study and process modeling of a laser foaming process. Poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) was used as the substrate material and CO2 was used as the blowing agent. Microstructures containing pores with varying topographical features at designed locations were created using laser. The effects of major process parameters such as gas concentration and laser intensity were investigated with respect to pore size and the size of foamed regions. The microstructure was evaluated with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that high intensity laser resulted in both a larger foamed region and an inverse cone-shaped well, which could be beneficial for cell culturing. A numerical model was developed to understand the laser foaming process and to predict the shape and size of the foamed region.