Advancing fused deposition modelling

本研究的主要目标是开发一种制造策略，允许在医院内经济有效地设计和生产针对肌肉骨骼疾病的患者特定塑料植入物。传统的制造工艺有太多的设计限制，而且成本效益不高，因此我们的研究重点是3D打印。几种3D打印技术存在，但由于其简单的材料挤压3D打印是一个有吸引力的技术。在这里，塑料细丝被提供给挤压喷嘴，该喷嘴被加热到半液体状态。然后将半熔融的塑料挤出喷嘴并分层放置。喷嘴的位置由数控机构控制，该机构遵循所需部件的形状。这种制造技术的简单性使其非常容易获得，并允许在办公室环境中打印各种各样的塑料。然而，这种3D打印技术已经被开发用于创建原型，而不是功能部件，因此有一些限制。因此，我们的短期目标是研究和增强这种基于塑料挤压的3D打印技术，以确保可以制造出坚固可靠的植入物和其他塑料部件。除了广泛的材料测试外，我们还将生成数值模型，以预测打印植入物和部件的长期性能和强度，以确保安全性和可靠性。通过创新的方法，我们将改进打印过程并解决其一些限制，这将进一步提高打印植入物和部件的可靠性和强度。我们还将在打印过程中加入连续碳纤维，从而产生非常坚硬和坚固的部件，可用于包括航空航天在内的许多其他行业。我们设想未来外科医生可以根据医学成像数据直接设计定制植入物，然后在医院进行打印和消毒。这些定制的植入物将提高手术效果，因此减少翻修手术的次数，同时大大降低植入物的成本，将显著降低这些手术的医疗成本。虽然拟议的研究只是实现这一目标的第一步，还有许多监管障碍需要克服，但从这项研究中获得的知识可以立即应用于其他监管较少的行业。公司可以快速设计和生产定制产品，制造创新产品并响应快速发展的行业。不需要储存零件和产品，它们可以在需要的地方制造，这将降低成本和环境食品印刷。

The over goal of this research is to develop a manufacturing strategy that allows to cost-effectively design and produce patient specific plastic implants for musculoskeletal conditions within a hospital. Conventional manufacturing poses too many design restrictions and would not be cost-effective for this purpose and therefore our research focuses on 3D printing. Several 3D printing technologies exist but due to its simplicity material extrusion 3D printing is an attractive technology. Here, a plastic filament is supplied to an extrusion nozzle which is heated to a semi-liquid state. The semi-molten plastic is then extruded through the nozzle and laid down in layers. The position of the nozzle is controlled with a numerically controlled mechanism that follows the shape of the desired part. The simplicity of this manufacturing technology makes it very accessible and allows to print a wide variety of plastics in an office setting. However, this 3D printing technology has been developed to create prototypes and not functional parts and therefore has several limitations. Therefore, our short term goal is to investigate and enhance this plastic extrusion based 3D printing technology to ensure that strong and reliable implants and other plastic parts can be manufactured. In addition to extensive material testing, we will generate numerical models, which allow to predict the long term performance and strength of the printed implants and parts to ensure safety and reliability. With an innovative approach we will enhance the printing process and address some of its limitations, which will further increase reliability and strength of the printed implants and parts. We will also include continuous carbon fiber into the printing process resulting in very stiff and strong parts that can be used in many other industries, including aerospace.We envision a future where custom implants are designed directly by the surgeons based on medical imaging data and then printed and sterilizes in the hospital. These custom implants will enhance the surgical outcomes, and therefore reducing the number of revision surgeries and together with substantially reduced implant costs will significantly reduce health care costs for these procedures. Although the proposed research is only the first step towards this goal and many regulatory hurdles need to be overcome, the knowledge gained from this research can be immediately applied for other, less regulated industries. Companies can design and produce custom products and quickly, manufacture innovative products and respond to fast developing industries. There would be no need to store parts and products and they can be manufactured where needed, which will decrease costs and the environmental food print.