Additive manufacturing for use in orthopaedics – Imperial College London

x10 magnification of a titanium alloy printed structure on a scanning electron microscope, with porous hip implant render

Comparison of titanium alloy and stainless steel failure modes in compression

Use of direct image correlation (DIC) to visualise magnitude and direction of strain across specimen

New additive manufacturing techniques allow for ever finer control of complex structures. These structures have novel material properties that can be tuned for specific mechanical performance¹.

Orthopaedic implants can benefit from this new manufacturing design space. Current implants use standard CNC or subtractive methods which use cast or extruded bulk metal. This can be many times stiffer than the bone it will be replacing. By using porous lattices in implant design, the stiffness of components can be controlled and matched to the surrounding tissue, as well as improve bone ingrowth².

My thesis in this field was titled “Design and testing of additively manufactured lattice structures for musculoskeletal applications“, and is available to download under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Creative Commons license. The aim of this PhD was to investigate the mechanical behaviour of AM lattices, and maximise the clinical benefits of AM for musculoskeletal applications.

I undertook my PhD studentship with the Biomechanics Group at Imperial College London, in collaboration with Renishaw plc, supervised by Professor Jonathan Jeffers.