Novel Composite Material for 3D Printing of Small Lightweight Implants (3DI)
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | Grafren AB |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 124 950 |
| Project duration | August 2020 - November 2020 |
| Status | Completed |
| Venture | Strategic Innovation Programme on Lightweight |
Important results from the project
The goal of this project was verification to use 3D printing for new composites that can be used for middle ear implants. Our results confirm such a possibility: the 3D printed bone has the same weight as natural; graphene reinforced polymer was used. The basic tests performed show that the manufactured implants work well in the range of the most problematic frequencies - 10000 to 20,000 Hz and do not cause much distortion there. Therefore, the composite material, when meeting other important requirements, can potentially replace the currently metal-based implants.
Expected long term effects
The results demonstrates that 3D printing composites can be potentially used for implants manufacturing. Due to its mechanical strength and light weight it directly provides the possibility for better transmission of sound in wide frequency ranges with with lower distortion, than the present heavy metal implants. This however, requires the deeper and further study, since in the proces of implant choice there are other requirements involved, such as biocomatibility, chemical stability, etc. This we plan to clarify in the future communication with potentiall interested partners.
Approach and implementation
The model was designed in a real scale in accordance with the natural bone size. Mixtures of resin and graphene were prepared in various concentrations for multiple 3D prints. The artificial bones of graphene-reinforced polymer with the same weight as natural were printed by 3D DLE Printer. The best mechanical properties of graphene-enhanced samples were 0.08% by weight of graphene. Then, 100 to 20,000 Hz sound waves were generated and transmitted via 3D-printed bone and recorded. Distortion in the high frequency range was less than 14%, which is an advantage over existing implants.