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WEST DUNDEE, Ill. — Renishaw PLC, a global engineering and healthcare technologies company, will attend the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) Annual Meeting this week in New Orleans, La. The AAOS Annual Meeting brings together experts in the fields of orthopedic surgery, research, and technology.
Renishaw will be exhibiting a range of prototype orthopedic implants 3D-printed in titanium on Renishaw’s healthcare-optimized additive manufacturing (AM) systems.
Dr. Jonathan Jeffers, of Imperial College London, will present data from an ongoing project, funded by the British government and Renishaw. It is nvestigating the development of load-bearing lattice structures for orthopedic implants. By incorporating a lattice, implants can provide a scaffold structure for new bone tissue to grow into. The spacing and strut thickness of the lattice can be optimized to match the stiffness of the surrounding bone. It may be possible to create a strain gradient on the bone, which can accelerate growth.
Orthopedic partners
“The partnership between Imperial College London and Renishaw is creating really exciting data on new materials that can control the way bone repairs itself,” commented Dr. Jeffers. “These materials could change the way orthopedic implants are designed in the future, and [they] certainly provide an opportunity to improve patient outcomes by repairing the musculoskeletal system with materials that can invoke a desired response in bone.”
Betatype, a London-based company and a technical collaborator in the research project, is providing its expertise in design, engineering, and material science. Betatype’s deep understanding of manufacturing technologies helps to optimize the complexity in part production to deliver the optimum balance in terms of features, quality and production speed for AM applications.
Ahead of the AAOS Meeting, Betatype founder Sarat Babu commented: “On display at the show will be a portfolio of additive manufacturing builds to showcase what can be achieved on the Renishaw platform with Betatype capability. The builds include lattice structures which are more complex, in terms of resolution and density, than anything that can usually be achieved using traditional manufacturing techniques.”
Renishaw’s additive manufacturing systems produce implants using a process known as laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). During the process, lasers are used to melt metal powder in layers as thin as 30 microns. As the powder melts, a solid product is formed. This method allows complex, customized designs to be manufactured quickly and with little waste.
The AAOS Annual Meeting will take place at the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans March 6-7, 2018.
About Renishaw
Renishaw is one of the world’s leading engineering and scientific technology companies, with expertise in precision measurement and healthcare.
The company supplies products and services used in applications as diverse as jet engine and wind turbine manufacture, through to dentistry and brain surgery. It is also a world leader in the field of additive manufacturing (also referred to as 3D printing), where it designs and makes industrial machines that “print” parts from metal powder.
The Renishaw Group currently has more than 70 offices in 35 countries, with around 4,500 employees. AM Solutions Centers are located in the U.K., Germany, the U.S., Canada, India and China. For more information on Renishaw, visit www.renishaw.com.
