Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
reinforced metal matrix composite layers based on the same base alloy
composition with boron additions to it.
9.5 FUTURE PERSPECTIVES
Laser-assisted direct metal deposition techniques such as LENS™ offer great
potential as future manufacturing technologies for orthopedic implants and other
biomaterials. The use of LENS™ would not only allow for the design and devel-
opment of compositionally and functionally-graded implants with site-specifi c
properties, as discussed in the previous section, but also lead to the availability of
custom-designed implants for specifi c patient needs. Thus, since LENS™ is based
on the concepts of three-dimensional stereolithography and is capable of recon-
structing a 3D shape from a computer CAD fi le in a relatively short period of
time, this processing technology can be quite easily adapted to manufacture cus-
tom-designed implants. It is possible to envision a scenario in the future where a
detailed 3D tomographic description of the implant required for a specifi c patient
can be generated in the doctor's hospital, electronically transmitted to a LENS™
based manufacturing setup at a different location, processed at the manufactur-
ing facility directly from the CAD fi le, and then shipped back to the hospital in a
rather short period of time for the surgical implantation. If successful, this has the
potential of revolutionizing the orthopedic implants industry of the future. One
of the drawbacks of LENS™ processing is the effective cost of production associ-
ated with orthopedic implants. However, with the rapidly increasing effi ciency of
lasers and the obvious advantages from an environmental and conservation point
of view, LENS™ and related near-net shape processing technologies based on
additive manufacturing are becoming increasingly popular and are very promis-
ing for the future.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors take this opportunity to express their gratitude to a number of people
without whose support this work would not have been possible. First and fore-
most, the authors gratefully acknowledge the support, encouragement, and, guid-
ance from Professor Hamish Fraser at the Ohio State University for this work on
laser deposition of orthopedic biomaterials. The authors would also like to
acknowledge Dr. Thomas Scharf from the University of North Texas (UNT) for
his guidance and support in the tribology work, Dr. Seifollah Nasrazadani (UNT)
for support with the corrosion studies, Dr. Mohamed El Bouanani (UNT) for
support with the XPS studies, and Dr. Kytai Ngyugen from the University of
Texas at Arlington for support in carrying out the
in vitro
studies. The authors
would also like to acknowledge the excellent work by graduate students, both
past and present, working on this program over a period of time and at different
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