Latest Developments and Insights of Orthopedic Implants in Biomaterials Using Additive Manufacturing Technologies

Abstract

The additive manufacturing (AM) process is used for joining materials to make objects from 3D model data, usually layer upon layer, contrary to subtractive manufacturing methods. This technology plays a significant role in fabricating orthopedic implants, especially parts of hip implants (HI), such as femoral head, stem, neck, polyethylene linear, acetabular shell, and so on, using biomaterials. These biodegradable resources are those that can be utilized as tissue substitutes since they are accepted by live tissues. Here, the study is to examine the most preferable AM process and biomaterial used for making HI, including its manufacturing methods, compositions, types, advantages, and defects and cross-examining the limitations to bring some new technology in the future. Then we elaborate on the outlook of the most preferable material, followed by evaluating its biocompatibility, detailed application, and structural defects occurring while using it as an HI. Subsequently, the physical characteristics and design constraints are also reviewed in the paper. We assess the current stage of the topology optimization technique (TO) with respect to the characteristics of newly designed implants. The review concludes with future perspectives and directions for research.