Thixotropic photocuring hydrogel and preparation method and application thereof
Technical Field
The invention belongs to the technical field of additional manufacturing, and particularly relates to a light-cured hydrogel material with thixotropic property for embedded 3D printing and a preparation method and application thereof.
Background
Embedded 3D printing (Embedded 3D printing) is a relatively novel 3D printing technique that extrudes multiple materials in a gel medium using extremely fine hollow needle tubes. Because the gel medium has certain thixotropic property, the gel medium can be recovered as before in a short time after the needle point is scratched, so that the printed material on the next layer does not influence the material on the previous layer, and the 3D printing process is realized by layer-by-layer accumulation in the thixotropic gel. The advantage of this technique is that it does not require support, and the disadvantage is that only thin walls can be printed, and the mould after printing is difficult to fix. The existing gel for the embedded 3D printing technology has carbomer hydrogel, gelatin and the like with single components, and a medium cannot be solidified after printing, and only has thin-wall characteristics without a solid structure.
Disclosure of Invention
The purpose of the invention is as follows: aiming at the problem that a gel medium in common embedded 3D printing is not curable in the prior art, the invention provides the thixotropic photocuring hydrogel which is a novel printing medium which can be photocured, has thixotropic property, is transparent and soft, can print a complex model with high transparency and high elasticity and can be rapidly photocured, and has great potential in material increase manufacturing of organ models and soft models.
The invention also provides a preparation method and application of the thixotropic photocuring hydrogel.
The technical scheme is as follows: in order to achieve the above object, a method for preparing a thixotropic photocurable hydrogel according to the present invention comprises the steps of:
(1) fully mixing a rheology modifier with deionized water to obtain a mixture A;
(2) adding a mixture B of acrylamide monomer and polyethylene glycol diacrylate into the mixture A and fully stirring;
(3) adding a free radical type photoinitiator into the mixture B, fully mixing, and performing vacuum defoaming to obtain bubble-free gel;
(4) irradiating the defoamed gel by using ultraviolet light or ultraviolet light to obtain the cured hydrogel.
Wherein the concentration of the rheological regulator in the step (1) in deionized water is 0.5-2 g/L. Too low a concentration may result in less than desirable thixotropic properties and the material does not heal automatically during printing.
Preferably, the rheology modifier in step (1) is Carbopol940, Carbopol Ultrez 21, Carbopol 980 or fumed silica, and the rheology modifier is neutralized by sodium hydroxide solution during the thorough mixing with deionized water. The pH value of the system is adjusted to 7, so that the system reaches the optimal viscosity.
Preferably, the ratio of the acrylamide monomer to the polyethylene glycol diacrylate in the step (2) is 99-99.9 wt.%, that is, the acrylamide monomer accounts for 99-99.9% of the total mass of the acrylamide monomer and the polyethylene glycol diacrylate; the proportion of the mixture formed by the acrylamide monomer and the polyethylene glycol diacrylate to the mixture A is 20-25 wt.%, namely the mass of the mixture formed by the acrylamide monomer and the polyethylene glycol diacrylate accounts for 20-25% of the total mass of the mixture A and the mixture A. The proportion of polyethylene glycol diacrylate should not be too high, which would lead to brittle systems after curing.
Further, in the step (3), the addition amount of the free radical photoinitiator is 0.01-2% of the mass of the mixture B. The free radical photoinitiator can absorb photons in a wavelength range of 360-450 nm to generate free radicals, the addition amount of the free radical photoinitiator is 0.01-2% of the mass of the mixture B, and the system is whitened when the proportion is too high.
Preferably, the sufficient mixing in step (3) is a long stirring and is a necessary step to allow the photoinitiator to be dispersed in the fluid of thixotropic properties. The photoinitiator is difficult to disperse in the fluid with thixotropic property, and if the stirring is insufficient, the phenomenon of whitening after curing occurs
Preferably, the pressure for vacuum defoaming in the step (3) is 0.5 to 500 Pa.
Further, the wavelength of the ultraviolet light or the ultraviolet light entering the ultraviolet light in the step (4) is 350-460 nm, and the irradiation intensity is 80-100 w. The high intensity radiation can enable the whole system to be cured quickly, and time is saved.
The thixotropic photocuring hydrogel prepared by the preparation method is provided.
The thixotropic photocuring hydrogel prepared by the preparation method disclosed by the invention is applied to embedded 3D printing.
The thixotropic photocuring hydrogel is applied to embedded 3D printing as a medium, and in the embedded 3D printing process, the vacuum defoaming obtained in the step (3) is carried out to obtain bubble-free gel; putting the ink into a transparent container of an embedded printer, wherein the ink extruded by a machine needle point can suspend in a gel medium due to the thixotropic property of gel, and printing is finished layer by layer; and then carrying out ultraviolet curing.
The raw materials in the present invention are all commercially available, and the rheology modifiers Carbopol940, Carbopol Ultrez 21, Carbopol 980, fumed silica are available from Luborun Special chemical Co., Ltd.
The acrylamide monomer and the polyethylene glycol diacrylate are purchased from Shanghai Michelin Biochemical technology Co., Ltd. the polyethylene glycol diacrylate used in the present invention is polyethylene glycol 400 diacrylate (PEG400DA, number average molecular weight 400), and polyethylene glycol 700 diacrylate can also be used.
The free radical photoinitiator TPO was purchased from Shanghai photo chemical Co., Ltd.
Has the advantages that: compared with the prior art, the invention has the following advantages:
the thixotropic photocuring hydrogel prepared by the invention is a novel printing medium which can be photocured, has thixotropic property, is transparent and soft, can print a complex model with high transparency, high elasticity and rapid photocuring in the gel medium, and has great potential in additive manufacturing of organ models and soft models; and the preparation is simple, the use is convenient, and the large-scale industrial production and application can be realized.
The thixotropic property of the thixotropic photocuring hydrogel can enable the printed material to be supported in the gel, layers are not affected with each other, meanwhile, the gel can be photocured into an elastic entity after printing is finished, the printed structure is fixed, and the thixotropic property of the gel enables the printed material to be quickly and automatically healed after being sheared by a printing probe. According to the invention, by endowing hydrogel with functions of photocuring and thixotropy, the embedded 3D printed complex entity can be stored, and the attribute of the transparent software has great potential in the aspect of medical operation prejudgment.
The thixotropic photocuring hydrogel prepared by the invention is neutralized by sodium hydroxide by using a rheological control agent such as Carbopol940, so that the thixotropic property can reach the optimal state; the acrylamide monomer and the polyethylene glycol diacrylate are transparent water-soluble prepolymers which do not react with the rheology modifier, and the whole system is in a transparent state, and the latter adds toughness to the whole system after curing. The raw materials can be fully dispersed by fully mixing for a plurality of times in the whole preparation process, and the whitening after curing is avoided. The vacuum defoaming has the beneficial effects of improving the mixing degree and increasing the transparency degree of the whole formula.
The present invention improves the print media so that the gel media can be fixed by means of photocuring after printing so that complex molds can form an "amber" like structure after curing.
Drawings
FIG. 1 wavelength scan of a cured thixotropic photocurable hydrogel prepared in example 1;
FIG. 2 test chart for breaking strength of thixotropic photocurable hydrogel prepared in example 1.
Detailed Description
The invention is further illustrated by the following figures and examples.
Example 1
(1) Mixing 2g of carbopol940 rheology modifier with 1000mL of deionized water, neutralizing by using a sodium hydroxide solution in the mixing process, measuring the mixture by using a pH meter, and stopping titration when the mixture is completely mixed and becomes neutral to obtain a mixture A;
(2) adding 200g of acrylamide monomer into 700g of the mixture A, slightly mixing, adding 1.25g of polyethylene glycol 400 diacrylate, and continuously mixing for 15 minutes by using a mechanical stirrer to obtain a mixture B;
(3) dripping 0.1g of TPO photoinitiator (liquid, free radical type) into 700g of the mixture B, stirring for 2 hours under the condition of keeping out of the sun by using a mechanical stirrer, and defoaming the obtained mixture under the air pressure of 250Pa in vacuum for later use;
(4) and taking out the printed container, and irradiating the container for 3 minutes at a distance of 5cm by using a near ultraviolet light source of 405nm and 100w for curing to obtain the thixotropic photocuring hydrogel.
Example 2
(1) Mixing 0.5g of carbopol940 rheology modifier with 1000mL of deionized water, neutralizing by using a sodium hydroxide solution in the mixing process, measuring the mixture by using a pH meter, and stopping titration when the mixture is completely mixed and becomes neutral to obtain a mixture A;
(2) adding 250g of acrylamide monomer into 1000g of the mixture A, slightly mixing, adding 1.25g of polyethylene glycol 400 diacrylate, and continuously mixing for 15 minutes by using a mechanical stirrer to obtain a mixture B;
(3) dripping 0.5g of TPO photoinitiator (liquid, free radical type) into 1000g of the mixture B, stirring for 2 hours in a dark condition by using a mechanical stirrer, and defoaming the obtained mixture in vacuum under the air pressure of 0.5Pa for later use;
(4) and taking out the printed container, and irradiating the container for 1 minute at a distance of 5cm by using near ultraviolet light of 460nm and 100w for curing to obtain the thixotropic photocuring hydrogel.
Example 3
(1) Mixing 1g of carbopol940 rheology modifier with 1000mL of deionized water, neutralizing by using a sodium hydroxide solution in the mixing process, measuring the mixture by using a pH meter, and stopping titration when the mixture is completely mixed and becomes neutral to obtain a mixture A;
(2) adding 225g of acrylamide monomer into 905g of the mixture A, slightly mixing, adding 1.25g of polyethylene glycol 400 diacrylate, and continuously mixing for 15 minutes by using a mechanical stirrer to obtain a mixture B;
(3) dripping 0.2g of TPO photoinitiator (liquid, free radical type) into 500g of the mixture B, stirring for 5 hours under the condition of keeping out of the sun by using a mechanical stirrer, and defoaming the obtained mixture in vacuum under the air pressure of 500Pa for later use;
(4) and taking out the printed container, and irradiating the container for 5 minutes at a distance of 5cm by using ultraviolet light of 350nm and 80w for curing to obtain the thixotropic photocuring hydrogel.
Example 4
Example 4 was prepared in the same manner as in example 1, except that the ratio of acrylamide monomer to polyethylene glycol 700 diacrylate in step (2) was 99.9 wt.%; in the step (3), the addition amount of the free radical photoinitiator is 2% of the mass of the mixture B.
Example 5
Example 4 the same procedure as in example 1 was followed, except that in step (1) the rheology modifier Carbopol940 was replaced with Carbopol Ultrez 21, Carbopol 980 or fumed silica, respectively.
Example 6
Application of thixotropic photocuring hydrogel in embedded 3D printing
The preparation method of the embodiment 1 is adopted, the gel obtained in the step (4) is placed into a transparent container of an embedded printer, and the ink extruded by a machine needle point can be suspended in a gel medium due to the thixotropic property of the gel, so that the ink can be printed layer by layer until the printing is finished; the printed container was removed and irradiated using a 405nm, 100w near uv light source for 3 minutes at a distance of 5cm to cure the entire system, during which time the ink was also cured therein.
Test example 1
The thixotropic light-cured hydrogel material prepared in example 1 was subjected to a transparency test, and a cured standard block with a thickness of 1cm was subjected to ultraviolet and visible wavelength scanning by using a spectrophotometer, as can be seen from fig. 1, the sample maintained a transmittance of 50% or more in the visible wavelength band, and the results of examples 2 to 4 were similar, indicating that the thixotropic light-cured hydrogel material prepared in the present invention has a transparent property.
The thixotropic photocurable hydrogel prepared in example 1 was subjected to a tensile strength test, and a dumbbell-shaped standard block (ASTM D412Type A) was tested by using a breaking strength tester, and as can be seen from FIG. 2, the sample was broken when it was stretched by about 12 times, the tensile strength was about 17kPa, and the results of examples 2 to 4 were similar, indicating that the thixotropic photocurable hydrogel prepared in accordance with the present invention has good elasticity.
The thixotropic photocurable hydrogel samples prepared in example 1 were viscosity tested using a rotational viscometer to obtain a viscosity of 49700 mPa.s at 6 rpm and a viscosity drop of 9750 mPa.s at 60 rpm, indicating that the gel became thinner with increasing shear rate, a property which ensures that the extruded ink stays in place during printing.