Additive Manufacturing and Surface Modification of Biomaterials using Selfassembled Monolayers - Biointerfaces: Where Material Meets Biology - page 37

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Figure 2.1 Schematic of the SLM process (image courtesy of Vision Systems

(www.vision-systems.com)).

2.2.1.3 Fabrication of Medical Devices using Selective Laser
Melting
The design freedom, potential for customisation, and direct fabrication of
parts from 3D models offered by SLM provides great potential for the
fabrication of metallic implants for biomedical applications. Research into
the use of SLM to fabricate medical devices has considerably increased over
the last decade. The Centre for Applied Reconstructive Technologies in
Surgery (CARTIS, www.cartis.org) demonstrated the feasibility of the design
and fabrication of a cranioplasty plate and the successful implant to restore
the orbital floor and rim produced in titanium by SLM. 44 Wehmoller et al. 40
showed the ability of SLM to fabricate a lower jaw model (including teeth,
the mandibular joint and the canal of the mandibular nerve), a spinal
column model and a tubular bone femur. It was reported in their study that,
to fabricate these implants in stainless steel, the production of the lower jaw
required 24 h, the spinal column required 25 h and the bone femur took
26 h. Successful clinical use of a custom-made root analogue for a dental
implant fabricated by a SLM process has also been reported in literature. 45
Currently, LayerWise, Renishaw PLC and 3T RPD are some of the companies
actively involved in the production of biomedical implants for cranial,
maxillo-facial, orthopaedic and dental applications.
Figure 2.2 shows different tracheobronchial stents with a strut thickness
of 300 mm designed and fabricated using the SLM process. Figures 2.3 and

.