3D printer for gel/soft matter and its application

Abstract

In 3D printers, hard materials such as polymer resins, gypsum, and metals have been used. Our research group, the Soft & Wet matter Engineering Laboratory (SWEL), incorporated this technology before 3D printers were noticed, and is developing a 3D gel printer as a precursor in the world. Like the name of our laboratory, the gel is a soft and wet matter like the human body, and it holds a solvent in the entangled macromolecular chain. However, to model the three-dimensional structure of the gel, there are many methods and technical problems. In this paper, we introduce the 3D gel printer that is under development and its applied technology.