Embedding of Liquids into Water-Soluble Materials via Additive Manufacturing for Timed Release

The ability to customize products with additive manufacturing allows manufacturers to meet the unique requirements and functionality for individual applications. By printing dissolvable materials as a matrix material, the release of active agents over time can be tailored on a per part basis by varying both geometry and printed material properties. Direct printing of actives via filament material extrusion is challenging because many active agents become inactive at the elevated temperatures found in the melt-based process. This limitation is circumvented by in situ embedding the active agents into a priori designed voids of a printed water-soluble capsule. In this work, this process is demonstrated by the in situ deposition of liquids and powders into thin-walled, water-soluble, printed structures. The authors demonstrate the ability to tune dissolution time by varying the thickness of a printed part's walls in order to create a delay in release and by creating parts with multiple chambers to initiate a multistaged release. This ability provides opportunities for creating customized containers for the prescribed release of liquid and powdered active agents.