We have incorporated rhodamine into polyamide membranes by additive manufacture selective laser sintering technology. Incorporation into 0.5 cm2 membranes was conducted at different pH values and constant temperature of 25 oC. The amounts of incorporated dye were determined by a calibration curve, and analyses showed rhodamine incorporation in the order of 10-6 mol L-1. The absorption spectra of the solutions and membranes after rhodamine incorporation showed maximum absorption at 553 nm and a shoulder at 522 nm, which indicated that a dimer was formed. Photoluminescence presented maximum emission at 575 nm for the sample incorporated with rhodamine in acid pH. The membranes that were treated with acid presented shorter adsorption time and demanded 180 min to reach equilibrium, whereas the non-treated membrane and the membranes that were treated with base required 1440 min to reach equilibrium. Polyamide membrane has proven to be an excellent material for the incorporation of dyes and compounds for application as luminescent sensors.

Lanthanide ions have special light emission, which can occur through descending and ascending energy conversion. Ascending energy conversion is especially interesting for bioapplications because excitation in the infrared region does not excite biomolecules and therefore does not interfere in detection, not to mention that it penetrates deeper in the skin. Here, we synthesized yttrium and aluminum oxide doped with Yb3+and Er3+ions via the non-hydrolytic sol-gel methodology. The doped matrix was incorporated and dispersed over a polyamide membrane obtained by Additive Manufacturing. X-ray diffraction revealed that a mixture of yttrium aluminum monoclinic and garnet phases emerged. Upon excitation at 980 nm in the Yb3+ion, the Er3+ presented more intense emission as a function of the laser power, which favored red emission. The intensities of the bands corresponding to the 4S3/2 → 4I15/2 (563 nm) and 5F9/2 → 4I15/2 (660 nm) transitions involved the absorption of two photons. The oxide incorporated into the polyamide membrane presented the same behavior. After coating with polyetherimide, the latter system was resistant to 5.1 W laser, which paves the way for new applications.

Additive manufacture is an effective technology to produce complex macrostructures from polymers. Sol-gel is a chemical process that affords multifunctional materials by functionalization of different substrates. This work reports on the use of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene polymer (ABS) as starting material to obtain a substrate by additive manufacture. Coating of ABS by the sol-gel methodology generated a multifunctional material. Sols with and without phosphate ions were prepared from silicon and calcium alkoxide. Based on X-ray diffraction patterns, a calcium phosphate crystalline structure emerged on ABS after contact of the substrate with simulated body fluid. Infrared analysis revealed that the peaks of the functionalized substrate shifted, indicating that ABS interacted with the sol-gel coating. According to thermal analysis, the maximum decomposition temperature of the coated samples was 20 ºC higher as compared to non-coated ABS. Sol-gel and additive manufacture are important technologies to produce materials with applications in biological medium.

Over the last decades, the combination of different technologies to search for systems with new properties and features has brought various segments of biological and earth sciences together. Additive manufacturing, known as rapid prototyping, combined with the sol-gel methodology enables the production of novel systems with applications in many scientific fields. In this work, flexible polyamide membranes were obtained by additive manufacturing, functionalized by the sol-gel methodology, and incorporated with the coordination compound between Eu(III) and 1,10-phenanthroline. The presence of vibrations at 1100 cm-1 in the FTIR spectrum of the material, which is a band typical of the Si-O-Si group in the alkoxide employed during the process, confirmed the polyamide membrane functionalization. The thermogravimetric curve showed that a residue remained after heating at 700 ºC, which was attributed to SiO2. The membrane was highly luminescent, which confirmed incorporation of the Eu3+ compound into the material and pointed to the possible application of this system as a topical medication for the treatment of skin diseases.

Um novo material a base de poliamida revestida com fosfato de cálcio foi desenvolvido visando potencial aplicação como biomaterial. O revestimento foi obtido pelo método sol-gel e o fosfato de cálcio foi obtido após contato com solução de fluído corpóreo. A poliamida revestida (antes e depois de contado com fluído corpóreo) foi caracterizada através de análises termogravimétrica e térmica diferencial (TGA/DTA), calorimetria diferencial de varredura (DSC), microscopia eletrônica de varredura (SEM) e espectrometria de reflexão total atenuada no infravermelho com transformada de Fourier (ATR-FTIR). As caracterizações revelaram a formação de fosfato de cálcio com uma espessura menor que 3 µm, o que proporcionou um aumento no ponto de fusão além de melhorar a estabilidade térmica da poliamida. Após contato com o fluído corpóreo, as interações entre o revestimento e o substrato se mantiveram, e houve formação de fosfatos cristalinos e amorfos na superfície de poliamida.

A new type of material from polyamide coated with calcium phosphate was developed aiming to have potential application as biomaterial. Coating was obtained by the sol-gel method and calcium phosphate was obtained after contact with body fluid solution. The coated polyamide (before and after contact with body fluid solution) was characterized by thermogravimetric and differential thermal (TGA/DTA) analyses, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). These characterizations revealed that the calcium phosphate coating has a thickness of less than 3 µm, which resulted in an increase in the melting point and improved the thermal stability of polyamide. After contact with body fluid, the interactions between the coating and the substrate remained, and there was formation of crystalline and amorphous phosphates on polyamide surface.

Prototipagem rápida (PR) é uma expressão que designa um conjunto de tecnologias que tem em comum a construção de protótipos físicos a partir de seus análogos virtuais. A construção camada a camada permite a obtenção de formas de alta complexidade, não possíveis de serem obtidas por técnicas convencionais de usinagem, baseadas em subtração de material. Um resumo sobre PR e suas aplicações na área da saúde é apresentado. Menção especial é dedicada ao PROMED (Prototipagem Rápida na Medicina) - um projeto de cunho social que realiza pesquisa e desenvolvimento envolvendo aplicações de PR na área médica e que difunde no Brasil e no exterior os benefícios trazidos pela PR no planejamento e ensaio cirúrgico e, também, na construção de implantes de alto desempenho anatômico. Também é feita uma revisão bibiográfica acerca da aplicação de SLS - Selective Laser Sintering - em scaffolds para engenharia tecidual e das mais recentes tecnologias de prototipagem direta em metal para construção de implantes personalizados. Finalmente são apresentados resultados preliminares de experimentos para construção de scaffods com o biomaterial PHB - poli (hidroxi butirato) e nylon usando um equipamento SLS.

Rapid Prototyping (RP) is an expression that is used for defining a set of technologies that have as a common characteristic the building of 3D physical prototypes, layer-by-layer, from their analogue virtual prototypes. The layer-by-layer building approach allows obtaining high complex shapes which cannot be obtained by the current most usual technologies based on material subtraction. A brief review about RP and its applications in the health domain is presented. A special mention is dedicated to the PROMED (PR in Medicine) - a non-profit research, development and knowledge diffusion project - focused on RP applied to medicine. Also it is reviewed the application of SLS - Selective Laser Sintering - for tissue engineering scaffolds and the most recent technologies for direct metal prototyping for building metal customized implants. Finally it is shown preliminary results of experiments to build scaffolds with PHB poly (hidroxy butirate) and nylon utilizing a SLS machine.