Additive Manufacturing

AUG 2013

Modern Machine Shop and MoldMaking Technology present ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, a quarterly supplement reporting on the use of additive processes to manufacture functional parts. More at additivemanufacturinginsight.com.

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F E AT U R E By Peter Zelinski Medical Parts on these pages illustrate how additive manufacturing helps improve the design of medical components. The metal parts in these images were all produced by Innovative Medical Device Solutions (IMDS) via direct metal laser sintering. Learn more about IMDS on page 2. Digital Porosity Implants such as these acetubular cups have a porous surface layer for "osseointegration," or for the patient's bone to grip by growing into it. In the past, adding this porous layer has involved a special step such as plasma spray. But an additive process allows the intricate layer to be made with the rest of the part, bringing advantages that go beyond just simplifying production. For example, the additive part can be designed to transition to the porous layer gradually, improving the integration with bone. In addition, the part's structural strength can be augmented with features that plasma spray would have precluded, such as the ribs seen in the implant on the right. Michael Siemer, additive manufacturing engineering manager with IMDS, says software from companies such as Netfabb or Within Technologies can be used to digitally design this complex organic geometry. Software such as this generates complex forms from user-defned boundary conditions. 4— AM Supplement

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