Chapter 5 - Additive manufacturing (AM) of medical devices and scaffolds for tissue engineering based on 3D and 4D printing

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) and four-dimensional (4D) printing (popularly known as additive manufacturing or rapid prototyping) are promising manufacturing technologies for the production of custom bone prostheses and functional scaffolds in biomedical applications. In 4D printing, a shape memory effect is utilized under the influence of various stimuli in materials with existing 3D printing strategies in order to create dynamic 3D-printed structures, transforming one shape into another.