ABSTRACT
Stereolithography is one of many methods of Computer Aided Manufacture (CAM) available for the fabrication of objects that are initially prepared in Computer Aided Design (CAD) software.1,2 A number of teams have explored the use of ste reolithographic CAD/CAM technology for the Rapid Prototyping (RP, also referred to as Solid Freeform Fabrication or SFF), of at least partiallyresorbable, tissue engineering scaffolds.3,4,5,6
Other CAM devices have also been used to fabricate tissue engineered scaffolds that rely on a CAD file that presents the desired part in layers. The use of all of these devices faces a similar accuracy challenge. The boundaries of features seen in section must be rendered accurately, primarily in the X and Y directions, while adjacent layers must be simultaneously fused, in the Z direction. By definition, the fusing of adjacent layers in the Z direction is referred to as “overcuring”, however overcuring must occur without any bleeding of shapes that define one layer into the next layer.
