International projects
Rapid manufacturing of titanium implants
Organisations (1)
Abstract
Due to their complex shape, high dimensional accuracy, good surface finish, and one-of-a-kind production prosthesis are usually manufactured by investment casting. Consequently, the materials used for prosthetic applications have to present a multiplicity of characteristics that are practically impossible to achieve simultaneously. Moreover, casting requires considerable tooling and complex finishing operations and the process often leads to poor quality and significant metal scraping. Also, the large numbe r of manufacturing steps and intensive skilled labour requirements make the process costly and slow. In addition to that, a large number of valuable higher reactivity titanium alloys and higher melting point alloys such as tantalum and zirconium alloys can not be cast altogether. The RAMATI project aims at developing Laser Powder Deposition to the production of biomedicai titanium implants for small size, customised prosthesis, for dental, maxilofacial and cranial reconstruction applications, in a one-per-on e basis, in order to allow exact tailoring of the prosthesis to the clinical requirements. LFFM eliminates the limitations of existing casting processes: (a) single-step process that produces near-net shape parts, the time expenditure and cost associated w ith multiple step fabrication are largely eliminated; (b) no machining is required; (c) being a highly automated process, labour requirements are low; (c) higher material purity are obtained because contamination by tools, machining oils, lubricants, clean ing agents and binders is avoided and part manipulation is reduced to a minimum; (d) no tooling or fixturing is required; (e) manufacturing planning is automatic and easy; (f) the factory footprint, capital investment and human resources required are low; and, more importantly, (g) a turnaround time of a few hours or days instead of a few weeks for conventional processes, (h) waste-free process because unused powder can be #
