Study of Impingement Types and Printing Quality during Laser Printing of Viscoelastic Alginate Solutions

Laser-induced forward transfer-based laser printing has been being implemented as a promising orifice-free direct-write strategy for different printing applications. The printing quality during laser printing is largely affected by the jet and droplet formation process and subsequential impingement. The objective of this study is to investigate the impingement-based printing type and resulting printing quality during the laser printing of viscoelastic alginate solutions, which are representative inks for soft structure printing such as bioprinting. Three printing types are identified: droplet-impingement printing, jet-impingement printing with multiple breakups, and jet-impingement printing with a single breakup. Printing quality, in terms of printed droplet morphology and size, has been investigated as a function of alginate concentration, laser fluence, and direct-writing height based on a time-resolved imaging approach and microarrays of printed droplets. Of these, the best printing quality is achieved with single-breakup jet-impingement printing, followed by multiple-breakup jet-impingement printing, with droplet-impingement printing producing the lowest quality printing. The printing quality can be improved by using high-concentration alginate solutions. The increase of laser fluence may lead to a well-defined primary droplet for low-concentration alginate solutions; however, this can cause the droplet diameter to increase, which may not be desirable. The direct-writing height (i.e., ribbon coating-receiving substrate distance) also influences the print quality. For example, an increase in direct-writing height can cause the printing type to change from the ideal jet-impingement with a single breakup, to the jet-impingement with multiple breakups, and even the least desired droplet-impingement printing, with only slight variations in droplet diameter.