Melt Electrowriting of a Photo‐Crosslinkable Poly( <i>ε</i> ‐caprolactone)‐Based Material into Tubular Constructs with Predefined Architecture and Tunable Mechanical Properties

Melt electrowriting (MEW) is an additive manufacturing process that produces highly defined constructs with elements in the micrometer range. A specific configuration of MEW enables printing tubular to create small-diameter structures. The small pool processable materials poses a bottleneck for wider application biomedicine. To alleviate this obstacle, acrylate-endcapped urethane-based polymer (AUP), using poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) (molar mass: 20 000 g mol−1) (AUP PCL20k) as backbone material, synthesized and utilized MEW. Spectroscopic analysis confirms successful modification PCL photo-crosslinkable acrylate endgroups. Printing experiments AUP PCL20k reveal limited printability but photo-crosslinking ability preserved post-printing. improve tune mechanical properties printed constructs, AUP-material blended commercially available PCL20k:PCL ratios 80:20, 60:40, 50:50). Print fidelity improves 60:40 50:50 blends. Blending constructs' approximate range blood vessels transplantation surgeries. crosslinking-ability material allows pure be manipulated post-printing illustrates significant differences 80:20 blends after crosslinking. An vitro cell compatibility assay human umbilical vein endothelial cells also demonstrates material's non-cytotoxicity.