Customized cranial implant manufactured by incremental sheet forming using a biocompatible polymer

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of incremental sheet forming (ISF), using the most common variants, single-point incremental forming (SPIF) and two-point incremental forming (TPIF), to produce prototypes of customized cranial implants using a biocompatible polym...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Bagudanch Frigolé, Isabel, Garcia-Romeu, Maria Luisa, Ferrer Real, Inés, Ciurana, Quim de
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10256/25885
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10256/25885
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Fabricació additiva
Additive manufacturing
Prototipatge ràpid
Rapid prototyping
Impressió 3D
Three-dimensional printing
Polímers en medicina
Polymers in medicine
Materials biomèdics
Biomedical materials
Descripción
Sumario:Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of incremental sheet forming (ISF), using the most common variants, single-point incremental forming (SPIF) and two-point incremental forming (TPIF), to produce prototypes of customized cranial implants using a biocompatible polymer (ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene, UHMWPE), ensuring an appropriate geometric accuracy and cost. Design/methodology/approach – The cranial implant is designed based on computerized tomographies (CT) of the patient, converting them into a 3D model using the software InVesalius. To generate the toolpath for the forming operation computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software is used. Once the cranial implant is manufactured, a 3D scanning system is used to determine the geometric deviation between the real part and the initial design. Findings – The results corroborate that it is possible to successfully manufacture a customized cranial implant using ISF, being able to improve the geometric accuracy using the TPIF variant with a negative die. Originality/value – This paper is one of the first research works in which a customized cranial implant is successfully manufactured using a flexible technology, ISF and a biocompatible polymer. The use of polymeric implants in cranioplasty is advantageous because of their lightweight, low heat conductivity and mechanical properties similar to bone. Furthermore, the cost of the implant has been calculated considering not only the raw materials and manufacturing time but also the environmental impact, revealing that it is a cheap process with a low lead-time