Open Access Conference Proceedings

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a promising technique for producing complex parts layer by layer from different metal alloys. Selective Laser Melting (SLM) consists of melting a previously formed powder layer by laser and fusing layers together according to the CAD-data. SLM is a promising method for producing custom-made implants from titanium powders due to the possibility of creating geometrically complex parts with high mechanical properties directly from the CAD-file.In the presented work, a hip implant was manufactured by SLM from plasma atomized Ti-6Al-4V powder. Computer-tomography data of the patient's deformed bone structure was used for 3D-printing the patient's hip bone model from polyamide. Then an implant prototype was made from polymer accounting the anatomical features of the patient. The implant model was 3D-scanned to obtain a CAD-file of the implants, which was further improved using CAD-software by partial texting of its surface. Titanium implant was produced by SLM and then annealed to achieve the better combination of tensile strength and elongation by partial decomposition of martensitic phase, which allowed the mechanical properties of the produced material meet the requirements of ASTM F2924 for additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V alloy and ISO 5832-3 Implants for surgery from titanium 6-aluminum 4-vanadium alloy. The hip implant has been successfully installed to the patient. The postoperative supervision has shown a good result. Applying AM for producing the custom hip implant allowed decrease the operation time and lessen the risk of the infection ingress.

Keywords: Additive manufacturing, selective laser melting, titanium powder, laser processing

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