3D PRINTING
Anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) spinal implant with digitally-applied surface roughness and gradient periodic gyroid structure, made using nTop Platform software from nTopology Image courtesy of nTopology
The 5-year-old company’s roots are in the engineering design industry. But nTopology has made inroads in medtech, especially in the orthopedic space where complex geometries inside implants have the potential to stimulate replacement bone growth. Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR), for example, collaborated with nToplogy and British engineering company Renishaw and its Renishaw RenAM 500M metal AM system to produce lightweight spinal implants that mimic the mechanical properties of bone. It’s easier to make changes and experiment with the software because the alterations can then flow through the overall equations behind the design, according to Cho. “They were able to use the software to explore more options that they could consider and test in a shorter amount of time,” he said of Renishaw and IMR. “We can give you a brand new, unique-looking structure, go to market with something that no one has ever seen before.” Additive manufacturing excels at creating complex technologies, so nTopology’s design software marries well with 3D printing. The company has partnerships with Renishaw, EOS and others to integrate nToplogy directly into their 3D-printing systems, versus relying on STL files and their limitations. “If we can avoid that digital step, work directly with the machine manufacturers … basically integrate the digital model workflow directly with them, we would be able to bypass this digital obstacle and really push the envelope on the design into the manufacturing process,” Cho said. The rise of in situ monitoring No matter what software innovation created it, a design will prove useless if the 3D printer doesn’t actually print to spec. That’s where sophisticated in situ monitoring — monitoring during the actual print — is coming into play.
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Medical Design & Outsourcing
3 • 2020
www.medicaldesignandoutsourcing.com
3D Systems, for example, has inprocess monitoring systems in metal 3D printing systems, including its DMP Flex 350, DMP Factory 350 and DMP Factory 500, with data analysis taking place post-process. Plans include releasing new software for automated monitoring analysis soon to aid users in assessing part quality, said Markus Reichmann, healthcare business development manager at the printer company. “We are really putting a lot of effort into automated monitoring.” 3D Systems uses a digital camera and a light diode that collects emitted light to tell exactly what is going on in the melt pool. “A next step will be to incorporate the online analysis that would run during the printing … and provide a feedback loop to the printing process based on the analysis results,” Reichmann said. A 3-year-old 3D printer company called Origin, based in San Francisco, boasts a 3D printer called the Origin One that monitors even more during the print. There are two optical cameras, three infrared cameras, humidity sensors, temperature sensors and more — as well as analytical software to better figure out what is going on, said Origin’s marketing director Finbarr Watterson.
3D Systems’ DMP Flex 350 machine is equipped with the latest monitoring software for maintenance tracking, as well as in-process monitoring of the build quality. Image courtesy of 3D Systems