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INDUSTRY NEWS

Laser sintering can provide design freedom to manufacturers of medical implants, according to EOS GmbH.

Laser manufacturing technologies such as laser sintering are playing an increasingly important role in the medical implant industry. The reasons why—and the impact this might have on industry in the future—were among the topics discussed at a forum in Leuven, Belgium, in September. The event was organized by rapid prototyping software developer Materialise (Leuven, Belgium) in collaboration with laser sintering equipment maker EOS GmbH (Krailling, Germany).

A number of factors make laser sintering worthy of consideration for manufacturers and users of orthopaedic products, according to EOS. The technology has the potential to reduce operation time and patient discomfort, provide greater design freedom, and shorten lead times, says the firm. Addressing the use of laser sintering technology at his firm, Peter Ostiguy from DePuy Spine observed: “In the past we designed for manufacturability. With laser sintering, we can design for functionality.”

Although EOS systems have only been installed since February 2007, DePuy has already used them to fabricate in the neighbourhood of 1200 parts. The products were almost exclusively used for evaluation purposes or as sales samples. However, the company projects much wider use of the technology for medical applications as appropriate materials are developed. In that regard, EOS announced it soon will launch stainless steel PH1, which fulfills ASTM E8 specifications, to complement its existing 17-4 stainless steel.

For more information, contact EOS GmbH, Robert-Stirling-Ring 1, D-82152 Krailling, Germany; phone: +49 89 8933 60; fax: +49 89 8933 6285; e-mail: info@eos.info; Internet: www.eos.info. Materialise can be contacted at Technologielaan 15, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium; phone: +32 16 396611; fax: +32 16 396600; Internet: www.materialise.com.