Visualising fibre path and generating G-code for melt electrowriting of tubular scaffolds using Grasshopper software

Melt electrowriting (MEW) produces high-resolution, highly porous microfibre scaffolds that are consistently replicable. While typically used to produce planar scaffolds, tubular microfibre structures are increasingly needed for tissue engineering (TE) applications (e.g. vascular TE). Designing such microfibre tubes is challenging due to the continuous fibre deposition required by MEW, and the difficulty of coding a three-dimensional geometry without the ability to previsualise it. This study introduces a new design approach that simplifies programming, provides a digital scaffold preview, and rapidly generates G-code iterations in AeroBasic script (compatible with Aerotech axis system) by using Rhinoceros, a well-known CAD 3D modelling software, and its built-in algorithmic design plugin, Grasshopper. The resulting 1 and 3 mm inner diameter MEW tubes consisted of fibre diameters 10.8 ± 0.7 µm or 20.7 ± 0.9 µm and matched the programmed design. This visual prototyping platform through Rhinoceros and Grasshopper offers a new method in predicting fibre paths and incorporating scaffold design parameters, meeting the need for diverse tubular scaffolds in different fields. In this study, we investigate whether a digital preview of tubular scaffolds and corresponding G-code generation system can enhance the accuracy and efficiency of designing tubular microfibre scaffolds for biofabrication applications.