2 research outputs found
Artificial vascularised scaffolds for 3D-tissue regeneration -a perspective of the ArtiVasc 3D Project
The aim of this paper is to raise awareness of the ArtiVasc 3D project and its findings. Vascularization is one of the most important and highly challenging issues in the development of soft tissue. It is necessary to supply cells with nutrition within a multilayer tissue, for example in artificial skin. Research on artificial skin is driven by an increasing demand for two main applications. Firstly, for the field of regenerative medicine, the aim is to provide patients with implants or grafts to replace damaged soft tissue after traumatic injuries or ablation surgery. Secondly, another aim is to substitute expensive and ethically disputed pharmaceutical tests on animals by providing artificial vascularized test beds to simulate the effect of pharmaceuticals into the blood through the skin. This paper provides a perspective on ArtiVasc 3D, a major European Commission funded project that explored the development of a full thickness, vascularized artifi-cial skin. The paper provides an overview of the aims and objectives of the project and describes the work packages and partners involved. The most significant results of the project are summarized and a discussion of the overall success and remaining work is given. We also provide the journal papers resulting from the project
Fiber laser induced surface modification/manipulation of an ultrasonically consolidated metal matrix
Ultrasonic Consolidation (UC) is a manufacturing technique based on the ultrasonic joining of a sequence
of metal foils. It has been shown to be a suitable method for fiber embedment into metal matrices.
However, integration of high volume fractions of fibers requires a method for accurate positioning and
secure placement to maintain fiber layouts within the matrices. This paper investigates the use of a fiber
laser for microchannel creation in UC samples to allow such fiber layout patterns. A secondary goal, to
possibly reduce plastic flow requirements in future embedding processes, is addressed by manipulating
the melt generated by the laser to form a shoulder on either side of the channel. The authors studied the
influence of laser power, traverse speed and assist gas pressure on the channel formation in aluminium
alloy UC samples. It was found that multiple laser passes allowed accurate melt distribution and channel
geometry in the micrometre range. An assist gas aided the manipulation of the melted material