Producing hip implants of titanium alloys by additive manufacturing

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, in particular selective laser melting (SLM) allows the production of complex-shaped individual implants from titanium alloys with high biocompatibility, mechanical properties, and improved osseointegration by surface texturing. In this work, the possibility of producing a custom-made hip implant from Ti-6Al-4V powder according to the data acquired via computed tomography of the patient is shown. Different heat treatments were applied in order to achieve better combination of tensile strength and elongation by partial decomposition of the martensitic phase. The implant was installed to the patient, postoperative supervision has shown good results, and the patient is able to move with the installed implant. A successful case of applying AM for producing custom hip implant is demonstrated in the paper. Using AM allowed the production of a custom-made hip implant in a short time and decreases the operation time and lessens the risk of infection ingress.