New additive manufacturing method ‘could aid medical device design’

A flexible new additive manufacturing method has been developed by researchers that could facilitate the creation of medical devices and implants in future.

Created by the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS in Dresden, the method allows users to produce bone implants, dentures, surgical tools or microreactors in a highly tailored and personalised manner.

The basis of the technology involves preparing optimum ceramic or metallic suspensions, with mixtures relying on a thermoplastic binder that becomes liquid at around 80 degrees C. These mixtures are very homogenous, with a precisely-set level of viscosity, allowing a workpiece composed of different materials to be built up point by point on a flat platform.

This method could allow a wide range of customised ceramic components to be created more easily and affordably than ever before.

Dr Tassilo Moritz from the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies said: "Internal and external sealing have always been a technological challenge for this, and there has been the problem of making connections that fit. Now we can just print them onto the ceramic component during manufacturing in whatever form."