Electric discharge machining – A potential choice for surface modification of metallic implants for orthopedic applications: A review

Abstract

Among the various metallic implant materials, titanium (Ti) alloy is the best choice for the long-term hard body tissue replacements such as hip and knee joints. It has excellent mechanical, superior biological and strong anticorrosion properties. Besides the appropriate implant material, its surface topology also plays a very important role in the success of any surgery. The surface topology is supposed to be the key factor for the promotion of osseointegration. This research article focuses its attention mainly on surface modification of Ti-based alloys by electric discharge machining process. Electric discharge machining is one of the most popular nonconventional manufacturing methods. Besides machining and surface modification of implants, it finds applications in almost all areas of manufacturing industries. This article reviews the various research work done on surface modification of Ti alloy by electric discharge machining and attempts to bring out the current scenario along with future directions. The area under focus for this research review is orthopedics applications. Furthermore, a new promising advancement in the area of enhancement of electric discharge machining performance for surface modification, particularly with regard to biocompatibility and surface quality of biomaterials, has also been introduced.

On the Investigation of Surface Integrity of Ti6Al4V ELI Using Si-Mixed Electric Discharge Machining

“…The present study investigates surface quality along with machining characteristics to modify the surface without compromising on machining efficiency. Surface characteristics (micro and nanoscale) which include SR, RLT, surface crack, porosity, and surface chemistry are critical for enhancing biocompatibility, adhesion, and osseointegration [18].…”

“…Electric discharge machining results into a biocompatible surface that affects osseointegration of implant with body tissues, bones and environment of the body. In comparison to conventional surface modification techniques like PVD, CVD, sol-gel, anodization and thus on, EDM shows better potential for surface modification [18,19]. The benefits associated with the EDM regarding the machining of bioimplants are:…”

“…13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 8 of 18nanoscale) which include SR, RLT, surface crack, porosity, and surface chemistry are critical for enhancing biocompatibility, adhesion, and osseointegration[18].…”

State of the art of bioimplants manufacturing: part II

“…Electric discharge machining (EDM) was established to manufacture geometrically complex or hard material parts which are difficult to be machined by conventional processes [109]. More recently, it has become favourable in producing nanostructured biocompatible surfaces [110]. The exploration of the destructive properties of electrical discharges can be traced back to the 1940s, when the first attempt was made on vaporizing material from the difficult-to-machine metal surface [109].…”

Tool speed and polarity effects in micro-EDM drilling of 316L stainless steel

“…Such micro-components are fabricated by various micro-fabrication techniques (Kibria, Bhattacharyya, & Davim, 2017). Among them, Electrical Discharge Micro-Machining (EDMM) is a well-known micro-fabrication technique that has an ability to produce complicated profiles (Prakash, Kansal, Pabla, Puri, & Aggarwal, 2016). Irrespective of the hardness of the materials, any conductive material can be machined by EDMM process (Unune, Singh, & Mali, 2016).…”