Additive Manufacturing of Metal Load‐Bearing Implants 2: Surface Modification and Clinical Challenges

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) permits sustainable production of personalized load‐bearing metal implants with complex structures. Regulations prescribe that implants have to meet strict requirements to not harm patients, and production technique should allow the certification of their performance. Process, materials, operating parameters, and customization to patient's needs could limit AM. Layer‐by‐layer material deposition and repeated thermal cycles may make outer surface of AM implants chemically and physically uneven and rough, eliciting biological response of host tissue and hindering therapeutic success. In this paper, we discuss the clinical challenges that AM must overcome to replace traditional techniques in implant and prostheses design.

Additive Manufacturing of Metal Load‐Bearing Implants 1: Geometric Accuracy and Mechanical Challenges

“…That reported suggests that while some AM technologies lead to the production of implants with properties similar to conventional processes, some challenges still have to be overcome to produce load-bearing metal implants and prostheses with such geometric accuracy and mechanical properties as to guarantee a good match with patient's tissues and organs. In the second companion paper [80], the comparison between AM and CP will be extended to implant surface properties and clinical performance for a better understanding of how mature AM technology is.…”