Medical Implants

Worldwide we are seeing a growing and aging population and, especially in the western world, a more active lifestyle. These demographic changes together with a constant development of new surgical techniques and implant types is driving a steady growth for the medical implant market. For the last 10 years this market has seen a double-digit growth. The constant flow of new novel products and intense competition between medical device manufacturers requires a high level of product differentiation. With Arcam’s EBM technology in-house you are well equipped to shorten your product development cycles and put innovative products on the market.

 

EBM values for the Medical implant market

The benefit with the EBM process should be seen from two perspectives: First and foremost it is a cost-effective production alternative to conventional machining, but it also opens up a world of opportunities in terms of product differentiation. Due to the inherent freedom in design brought by the EBM process it offers a unique approach to development of new advanced Trabecular Structures™.

Further benefits with EBM production:

  • Geometrical freedom allows for patient-specific implants
  • Single-step production of solid and porous sections (Trabecular Structures™)
  • Structural continuity between solid and porous sections
  • All-porous implants (augments, wedges, blocks, etc) possible
  • Possibility to optimize bio-flexibility to emulate bone flexibility
  • No high temperature process, that could cause grain growth, is needed to obtain the Trabecular Structures™

EBM applications

Standard implants

The EBM technology is a cost-effective process for manufacturing both press-fit implants and cemented implants. For press-fit implants specifically, the EBM process lends itself for high volume production. Solid and porous sections of the implant are built in the same process step, eliminating the need for expensive secondary processes for applying other porous materials.

Custom implants

The EBM technology offers a direct “CAD to Metal” process that allows for production of patient-specific implants using data derived from Computer Tomography (CT). The CT data is used to create an exact CAD model of the desired implant. This CAD model is then used by the EBM machine to build the actual part.

Trabecular Structures™ - Engineered Porous Materials

Develop and manufacture your own unique Trabecular Structure™ using the EBM technology. When choosing the EBM technology for manufacturing you also set yourself free from design constraints that you normally have to consider, due to the limitations of available technologies for building porous materials.

With EBM in mind for production, new advanced trabecular structures can be developed with a minimum of capital investment and a virtually total freedom in design. To achieve the properties you look for in terms of osseointegration, primary fit etc you may optimise your design in terms of:

  • Pore geometry
  • Pore size
  • Relative density
  • Roughness

EBM in production

EBM is a cost-effective manufacturing technology for a wide range of implant types such as hips, knees, shoulders and spinal implants. There are a growing number of certified implants on the market produced with the Arcam EBM technology. These products are primary and revision hip implants such as acetabular cups and augments, as well as spinal implants. One of these companies is the Adler Ortho Group, who launched their EBM-manufactured CE-certified Fixa Ti-Por acetabular cup on the European market already in 2007. As of today several thousand EBM-manufactured implants have been implanted.

A production case

Electron Beam Melted Ti Implants in Rabbits

Production platform for medical implants

EBM for medical implants