scholarly journals AI-Optimized Technological Aspects of the Material Used in 3D Printing Processes for Selected Medical Applications

Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 5437
Author(s):  
Izabela Rojek ◽  
Dariusz Mikołajewski ◽  
Ewa Dostatni ◽  
Marek Macko

While the intensity, complexity, and specificity of robotic exercise may be supported by patient-tailored three-dimensional (3D)-printed solutions, their performance can still be compromised by non-optimal combinations of technological parameters and material features. The main focus of this paper was the computational optimization of the 3D-printing process in terms of features and material selection in order to achieve the maximum tensile force of a hand exoskeleton component, based on artificial neural network (ANN) optimization supported by genetic algorithms (GA). The creation and 3D-printing of the selected component was achieved using Cura 0.1.5 software and 3D-printed using fused filament fabrication (FFF) technology. To optimize the material and process parameters we compared ten selected parameters of the two distinct printing materials (polylactic acid (PLA), PLA+) using ANN supported by GA built and trained in the MATLAB environment. To determine the maximum tensile force of the exoskeleton, samples were tested using an INSTRON 5966 universal testing machine. While the balance between the technical requirements and user safety constraints requires further analysis, the PLA-based 3D-printing parameters have been optimized. Additive manufacturing may support the successful printing of usable/functional exoskeleton components. The network indicated which material should be selected: Namely PLA+. AI-based optimization may play a key role in increasing the performance and safety of the final product and supporting constraint satisfaction in patient-tailored solutions.

Author(s):  
Neha Sharma ◽  
Dennis Welker ◽  
Soheila Aghlmandi ◽  
Michaela Maintz ◽  
Hans-Florian Zeilhofer ◽  
...  

Pure orbital blowout fractures occur within the confines of the internal orbital wall. Restoration of orbital form and volume is paramount to prevent functional and esthetic impairment. The anatomical peculiarity of the orbit has encouraged surgeons to develop implants with customized features to restore its architecture. This has resulted in worldwide clinical demand for patient-specific implants (PSIs) designed to fit precisely in the patient's unique anatomy. Fused filament fabrication (FFF) three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has enabled the fabrication of implant-grade polymers such as Polyetheretherketone (PEEK), paving the way for a more sophisticated generation of biomaterials. This study evaluates the FFF 3D printed PEEK orbital mesh customized implants with a metric considering the relevant design, biomechanical, and morphological parameters. The performance of the implants is studied as a function of varying thicknesses and porous design constructs through a finite element (FE) based computational model and a decision matrix based statistical approach. The maximum stress values achieved in our results predict the high durability of the implants, and the maximum deformation values were under one-tenth of a millimeter (mm) domain in all the implant profile configurations. The circular patterned implant (0.9 mm) had the best performance score. The study demonstrates that compounding multi-design computational analysis with 3D printing can be beneficial for the optimal restoration of the orbital floor.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (16) ◽  
pp. 3563
Author(s):  
Neha Sharma ◽  
Dennis Welker ◽  
Soheila Aghlmandi ◽  
Michaela Maintz ◽  
Hans-Florian Zeilhofer ◽  
...  

Pure orbital blowout fractures occur within the confines of the internal orbital wall. Restoration of orbital form and volume is paramount to prevent functional and esthetic impairment. The anatomical peculiarity of the orbit has encouraged surgeons to develop implants with customized features to restore its architecture. This has resulted in worldwide clinical demand for patient-specific implants (PSIs) designed to fit precisely in the patient’s unique anatomy. Material extrusion or Fused filament fabrication (FFF) three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has enabled the fabrication of implant-grade polymers such as Polyetheretherketone (PEEK), paving the way for a more sophisticated generation of biomaterials. This study evaluates the FFF 3D printed PEEK orbital mesh customized implants with a metric considering the relevant design, biomechanical, and morphological parameters. The performance of the implants is studied as a function of varying thicknesses and porous design constructs through a finite element (FE) based computational model and a decision matrix based statistical approach. The maximum stress values achieved in our results predict the high durability of the implants, and the maximum deformation values were under one-tenth of a millimeter (mm) domain in all the implant profile configurations. The circular patterned implant (0.9 mm) had the best performance score. The study demonstrates that compounding multi-design computational analysis with 3D printing can be beneficial for the optimal restoration of the orbital floor.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Philipp Honigmann ◽  
Neha Sharma ◽  
Ralf Schumacher ◽  
Jasmine Rueegg ◽  
Mathias Haefeli ◽  
...  

Recently, three-dimensional (3D) printing has become increasingly popular in the medical sector for the production of anatomical biomodels, surgical guides, and prosthetics. With the availability of low-cost desktop 3D printers and affordable materials, the in-house or point-of-care manufacturing of biomodels and Class II medical devices has gained considerable attention in personalized medicine. Another projected development in medical 3D printing for personalized treatment is the in-house production of patient-specific implants (PSIs) for partial and total bone replacements made of medical-grade material such as polyetheretherketone (PEEK). We present the first in-hospital 3D printed scaphoid prosthesis using medical-grade PEEK with fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing technology.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Nectarios Vidakis ◽  
Markos Petousis ◽  
Emmanuel Velidakis ◽  
Nikolaos Mountakis ◽  
Peder Erik Fischer-Griffiths ◽  
...  

Conductive Polymer Composites (CPCs) have recently gained an extensive scientific interest as feedstock materials in Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) Three-dimensional (3D) printing. Polylactic Acid (PLA), widely used in FFF 3D printing, as well as its Carbon Black (CB) nanocomposites at different weight percentage (wt.%) filler loadings (0.5, 1.0, 2.5 and 5.0 wt.%), were prepared via a melt mixing filament extrusion process in this study and utilized to manufacture FFF 3D printed specimens. The nanocomposites were examined for their electrical conductivity. The highest loaded 3D printed CPC (5.0 wt.%) was tested as an electrothermal Joule heating device. Static tensile, flexural, Charpy’s impact and Vickers microhardness mechanical properties were investigated for the neat and PLA/CB 3D printed nanocomposites. Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) revealed a stiffening mechanism for the PLA/CB nanocomposites. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) elucidated the samples’ internal and external microstructural characteristics. The PLA/CB 5.0 wt.% nanocomposite demonstrated also antibacterial properties, when examined with a screening process, against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). It can be envisaged that the 3D printed PLA/CB CPCs exhibited a multi-functional performance, and could open new avenues towards low-cost personalized biomedical objects with complex geometry, amongst others, i.e., surgery tools, splints, wearables, etc.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 545
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Rodzeń ◽  
Preetam K. Sharma ◽  
Alistair McIlhagger ◽  
Mozaffar Mokhtari ◽  
Foram Dave ◽  
...  

The manufacture of polyetheretherketone/hydroxyapatite (PEEK/HA) composites is seen as a viable approach to help enhance direct bone apposition in orthopaedic implants. A range of methods have been used to produce composites, including Selective Laser Sintering and injection moulding. Such techniques have drawbacks and lack flexibility to manufacture complex, custom-designed implants. 3D printing gets around many of the restraints and provides new opportunities for innovative solutions that are structurally suited to meet the needs of the patient. This work reports the direct 3D printing of extruded PEEK/HA composite filaments via a Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) approach. In this work samples are 3D printed by a custom modified commercial printer Ultimaker 2+ (UM2+). SEM-EDX and µCT analyses show that HA particles are evenly distributed throughout the bulk and across the surface of the native 3D printed samples, with XRD highlighting up to 50% crystallinity and crystalline domains clearly observed in SEM and HR-TEM analyses. This highlights the favourable temperature conditions during 3D printing. The yield stress and ultimate tensile strength obtained for all the samples are comparable to human femoral cortical bone. The results show how FFF 3D printing of PEEK/HA composites up to 30 wt% HA can be achieved.


Lab on a Chip ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Wu ◽  
Stephen Beirne ◽  
Joan-Marc Cabot Canyelles ◽  
Brett Paull ◽  
Gordon G. Wallace ◽  
...  

Additive manufacturing (3D printing) offers a flexible approach for the production of bespoke microfluidic structures such as the electroosmotic pump. Here a readily accessible fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing...


Author(s):  
Yanyan Ma ◽  
Peng Ding ◽  
Lanlan Li ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
Ping Jin ◽  
...  

AbstractHeart diseases remain the top threat to human health, and the treatment of heart diseases changes with each passing day. Convincing evidence shows that three-dimensional (3D) printing allows for a more precise understanding of the complex anatomy associated with various heart diseases. In addition, 3D-printed models of cardiac diseases may serve as effective educational tools and for hands-on simulation of surgical interventions. We introduce examples of the clinical applications of different types of 3D printing based on specific cases and clinical application scenarios of 3D printing in treating heart diseases. We also discuss the limitations and clinically unmet needs of 3D printing in this context.


Crystals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 353
Author(s):  
Yanting Han ◽  
Qianqian Wei ◽  
Pengbo Chang ◽  
Kehui Hu ◽  
Oseweuba Valentine Okoro ◽  
...  

Hydroxyapatite (HA) and HA-based nanocomposites have been recognized as ideal biomaterials in hard tissue engineering because of their compositional similarity to bioapatite. However, the traditional HA-based nanocomposites fabrication techniques still limit the utilization of HA in bone, cartilage, dental, applications, and other fields. In recent years, three-dimensional (3D) printing has been shown to provide a fast, precise, controllable, and scalable fabrication approach for the synthesis of HA-based scaffolds. This review therefore explores available 3D printing technologies for the preparation of porous HA-based nanocomposites. In the present review, different 3D printed HA-based scaffolds composited with natural polymers and/or synthetic polymers are discussed. Furthermore, the desired properties of HA-based composites via 3D printing such as porosity, mechanical properties, biodegradability, and antibacterial properties are extensively explored. Lastly, the applications and the next generation of HA-based nanocomposites for tissue engineering are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-69
Author(s):  
Amirhosein Fathi ◽  
Farzad Kermani ◽  
Aliasghar Behnamghader ◽  
Sara Banijamali ◽  
Masoud Mozafari ◽  
...  

AbstractOver the last years, three-dimensional (3D) printing has been successfully applied to produce suitable substitutes for treating bone defects. In this work, 3D printed composite scaffolds of polycaprolactone (PCL) and strontium (Sr)- and cobalt (Co)-doped multi-component melt-derived bioactive glasses (BGs) were prepared for bone tissue engineering strategies. For this purpose, 30% of as-prepared BG particles (size <38 μm) were incorporated into PCL, and then the obtained composite mix was introduced into a 3D printing machine to fabricate layer-by-layer porous structures with the size of 12 × 12 × 2 mm3.The scaffolds were fully characterized through a series of physico-chemical and biological assays. Adding the BGs to PCL led to an improvement in the compressive strength of the fabricated scaffolds and increased their hydrophilicity. Furthermore, the PCL/BG scaffolds showed apatite-forming ability (i.e., bioactivity behavior) after being immersed in simulated body fluid (SBF). The in vitro cellular examinations revealed the cytocompatibility of the scaffolds and confirmed them as suitable substrates for the adhesion and proliferation of MG-63 osteosarcoma cells. In conclusion, 3D printed composite scaffolds made of PCL and Sr- and Co-doped BGs might be potentially-beneficial bone replacements, and the achieved results motivate further research on these materials.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 1791
Author(s):  
Chi Cuong Vu ◽  
Thanh Tai Nguyen ◽  
Sangun Kim ◽  
Jooyong Kim

Health monitoring sensors that are attached to clothing are a new trend of the times, especially stretchable sensors for human motion measurements or biological markers. However, price, durability, and performance always are major problems to be addressed and three-dimensional (3D) printing combined with conductive flexible materials (thermoplastic polyurethane) can be an optimal solution. Herein, we evaluate the effects of 3D printing-line directions (45°, 90°, 180°) on the sensor performances. Using fused filament fabrication (FDM) technology, the sensors are created with different print styles for specific purposes. We also discuss some main issues of the stretch sensors from Carbon Nanotube/Thermoplastic Polyurethane (CNT/TPU) and FDM. Our sensor achieves outstanding stability (10,000 cycles) and reliability, which are verified through repeated measurements. Its capability is demonstrated in a real application when detecting finger motion by a sensor-integrated into gloves. This paper is expected to bring contribution to the development of flexible conductive materials—based on 3D printing.


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