Medical devices such as dental lenses or coatings, blood pumps and artificial skin, a reality thanks to the combination of PDMS and 3D bioprinting.

1. Manually mix the base (elastomer) and curing agent in a ratio of 10: 1.
2. Once mixed, stirring will have generated bubbles, so it is highly recommended to put the mix in a vacuum chamber to extract them.
3. Before pouring, clean the container or syringe with acetone or isopropyl alcohol.
4. Once the final form has been applied, let it cure for several days ( 2 to 7) at room temperature or for 15-20 minutes at 80-100⁰C.

The REGEMAT3D V1 bioprinter technology makes it easy to create custom made structures with PDMS. It is only necessary to load the head of the V1 with a syringe with PDMS and carry out the impression. The field of application of PDMS offers wide applications for biomedicine thanks to its key properties. The characteristics of this material combined with bioprinting make it easy to create personalized structures. In addition, with the design of the new heated bed, it allows curing at temperatures around 100⁰C while the structure is being made, speeding up the healing process.

Polydimethylsiloxane, better known by PDMS, is a synthetic polymer from the group of polysiloxanes, but commonly called silicones. It is a transparent material characterized by its good thermal and oxidative stability, high gas permeability, hydrophobicity and being an excellent dielectric.

In the field of biomedical applications PDMS also offers other key properties such as biocompatibility, resistance to blood corrosion, oxygen permeability, being odorless and having a low biodegradation, keeping its properties intact for years when implanted . In this way, PDMS is used in the manufacture of medical devices such as blood pumps, breast prostheses, artificial skin, maxillofacial reconstructions, catheters, lenses, dental coatings, and drug delivery. It is a material whose elaboration is not complicated and is basically divided into 4 stages:

1. Manually mix the base (elastomer) and curing agent in a ratio of 10: 1.
2. Once mixed, stirring will have generated bubbles, so it is highly recommended to put the mix in a vacuum chamber to extract them.
3. Before pouring, clean the container or syringe with acetone or isopropyl alcohol.
4. Once the final form has been applied, let it cure for several days ( 2 to 7) at room temperature or for 15-20 minutes at 80-100⁰C.