Fabrication of Biodegradable Polymeric Micro-Devices Using Laser Micromachining

Laser direct writing and percussion-drilling techniques are employed to fabricate two biodegradable micro-devices for biomedical engineering applications. Biodegradable polymeric material, poly-D-lactic acid (PDLA), and polymer poly-vinyl alcohol (PVA) were micropatterned by ultraviolet lasers. The morphology, dimensional accuracy, and surface conditions of the fabricated micro-devices after the laser ablation were studied using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a surface profilometer. The experimental results for producing micro-devices are reported. This work on laser micromachining of a biodegradable polymer for applications in biomedical engineering is the first of its kind and demonstrated that this technique is well suited to produce biodegradable microdevices with minimum thermal damage to the surrounding material.