Additive Manufacturing of Magnesium Bioresorbable ImplanTs

Projektinformationen

AMBIT

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: 101029651

DOI

10.3030/101029651

Projekt abgeschlossen

EK-Unterschriftsdatum 24 März 2021

Startdatum 1 September 2021

Enddatum 31 August 2023

Finanziert unter

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Gesamtkosten

€ 196 590,72

EU-Beitrag

€ 196 590,72

Koordiniert durch

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN
Ireland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AMBIT (Additive Manufacturing of Magnesium Bioresorbable ImplanTs)

Berichtszeitraum: 2021-09-01 bis 2023-08-31

Zusammenfassung vom Kontext und den Gesamtzielen des Projekts

Craniomaxillofacial defects (congenital or acquired) of the face, skull and jaw, are severely debilitating, where the patient not only suffers physically but also psychologically. Craniofacial conditions are often complex, affecting both soft tissue and the bones of the face and/or the head. Currently, non-resorbable implants are being used to address craniofacial defects where a second operation is routinely required to remove these devices with limited patient-specific customisation, that may lead to stress-shielding, long-term erosion, infection or lack of growth, particularly in vulnerable paediatric population.

The AMBIT project allowed us to go one step closer to the realisation of customised Biodegradable Magnesium Implants for craniomaxillofacial applications to overcome the limitations of current clinical gold-standard non-resorbable Titanium (Ti)-based implants. Potential use of low temperature additive manufacturing (AM) technology is investigated for processing patient specific Mg-based implants. Further advancement of clinical implementation and use of patient specific Mg-based biodegradable implants will not only improve the post-operation experiences and lives of craniofacial implant recipients but ultimately decrease the cost burden on national health systems.

Through AMBIT, new bioresorbable Mg alloys that are more suitable to process via low temperature AM technology were developed. High-quality FDM-compatible 3D-printing filaments containing Mg powder that are not currently available commercially were designed and processed. Preliminary experiments for the demonstration of translational capacity in exemplar craniofacial implant applications was demonstrated.

Arbeit, die ab Beginn des Projekts bis zum Ende des durch den Bericht erfassten Berichtszeitraums geleistet wurde, und die wichtigsten bis dahin erzielten Ergebnisse

Novel magnesium (Mg) based alloys are developed that are more suitable for low temperature 3D-Printing technology. Moreover, as required by the low temperature 3D-printing route, source material involving high quality filaments / pellets with Mg particles distributed in the carrier polymer are processed. Polymer / Mg composite parts with varying metal content and distribution were successfully 3D-printed. Preliminary work on the post-processing led to promising results and exhibited the potential of obtaining patient specific Mg-based craniofacial implants in a cost-effective way.

1 conference paper has been published and another paper is accepted for publication. 3 Manuscripts are in preparation for publication in peer reviewed journals. Dissemination of the research findings was presented in 2 multinational (TMS 2023, San Diego, USA & ASTM International Conference on Additive Manufacturing, March 2023, ICAM 2022, Orlando, Florida, USA, Nov 2022) and 2 national conferences (11th European Solid Mechanics Conference, Galway, Ireland, July 2022 and Bioengineering in Ireland, BINI 2023).
Marie-Sklodowska Curie Fellow participated in a podcast (January 25th, 2023) (https://open.spotify.com/episode/32nvh4OGHDTifst0ETOMFo ; https://www.ucd.ie/discovery/programs/risingstarfellowship/drmertcelikin/) organised by UCD Institute for Discovery where the aim of these podcasts is to interview rising star fellows and feature the stories of discovery. This experience is allowed the fellow to disseminate the project impact to the general public where the podcast has been shared in multiple social media platforms including Spotify, Linkedin and Twitter.

Fortschritte, die über den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinausgehen und voraussichtliche potenzielle Auswirkungen (einschließlich der bis dato erzielten sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen und weiter gefassten gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Projekts)

In AMBIT project, a know-how is developed for processing Mg particles with reduced size and improved sphericity from bulk samples with specified compositions. This study also allowed us to understand the effect particle size and morphology on the sinterability. Additionally, there are currently no commercial Mg / polymer-based filaments available for low temperature 3D-Printing process (Fused Deposition Modelling). In AMBIT, threshold levels of Mg-content in PLA polymer to be able to extrude a filament to be used for 3D-printing were determined successfully. The relationship between Mg-content and ductility of Mg/PLA filaments was obtained for the first time. Due to the unavailability of the Mg powders in specified compositions commercially, there are no reported works available on the sinterability of these alloys. Therefore, optimisation of sintering process for this alloy system via use of thermodynamic calculations is new. Additionally, the deviation between the liquid phase fractions obtained via thermodynamic calculations and determined via Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) measurements are critical and novel. AMBIT allowed understanding of the relationship between liquid phase fractions and final sinterability. AMBIT has gone beyond state-of-the-art by investigating the effect of porosity levels and composition on biodegradability and biocompatibility of these new alloys at the same time.

AMBIT initiated efforts for training the next generation of materials scientists and engineers focusing on alloy design for biomedical implant processing. With the advancement of novel processing technologies such as additive manufacturing, new compositions should be designed that would be more compatible with these techniques. Critical know-how developed in this project will allow the development of more cost-effective magnesium-based patient specific biodegradable implants in the future, and this will allow wider implementation especially to paediatric population. Eventually, this should remove the need for secondary surgeries and decrease associated healthcare costs and increase quality of life.

3D-Printed PLA / Mg parts with cranial plate geometry

Macrostructures of Mg alloys upon sintering exhibiting Liquid Phase Sintering

SEM images of Mg alloys after sintering