• Portoles, Luis

Abstract

Additive Manufacturing (AM) enables the use of value-added design in medical device manufacturing sector. Process of adding material in layers allows the fabrication of designed, controlled and well-interconnected porosity which, combined with solid material, provides better bone ingrowth into implants. Also, AM implants are characterized by rough surface quality per se. Undesirable in other sectors, in medical implants rough surface is an advantage because it enhances bone-implant fixing. Furthermore, AM technologies perform fabrication of metal implants in a highly controlled atmosphere with restricted presence of oxygen, which results in especially high purity. Finally, layer-by-layer principle allows the fabrication of customized net-shape implants that fully fit patient’s data. In addition, huge power and high processing velocity open the possibility of serial production of standardized implants. This chapter pretends to illustrate the capabilities of AM on the example of a technology with one of the most powerful active principles: Electron Beam Melting (EBM).

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• surface
• Oxygen
• porosity
• electron beam melting