Amit Bandyopadhyay, Ph.D.

With over half of all commercial biomedical implants containing metal, a new study by researchers at Washington State University, the Mayo Clinic, and Stanford University Medical Center has shown the value of using 3D printing to identify new alloys that improve upon metals that have been in surgical use for decades.

As reported in Materials Today [Mitra et al. Mater. Today (2020) DOI: 10.1016/j.mattod.2020.11.021], 3D printing was used to assess a range of new and more effective alloys in implants – mainly used in orthopedic, dental, fracture management, spinal and cardiovascular applications. The three main alloys are currently employed in biomedical implants: stainless steel, titanium, and cobalt–chrome were originally developed by the automotive and aerospace industries for their strength, fatigue, corrosion resistance, and not for their biological performance… Continue reading.