What is the Additive manufacturing (3D printing) system and its associated material that most suitable for manufacturing of functional below and above knee prosthesis?
Most probably Selective laser sintering and the material is calcium Phospate and Hydroxyapitite is the preferable .
Depending on kind of prosthesis, also metals are involved for support and/or fixture components. Selective Laser Melting and also Laser Deposition Welding can be used. However the techniques require post processing for (functional) surfaces. Metal components mostly are Cobalt or Titanium based alloys, which can be additive manufactured quite well.
Electron Beam Melting (EBM) as well as laser based processes are both suitable manufacturing technologies. Cobalt Chrome and Ti6Al4V can both be successfully processed using these systems. Extra Low Interstitial (ELI) is the Ti64 grade of choice for biomedical applications. There are concerns however with porosity and material homogeneity with AM components for medical (and other) applications. There is much ongoing research in these areas.
Dear Osama, the answers above are quite right. The additive manufacturing process of choice is dependent on materials used. Another class of manufacturing that you may consider is powder bed binder jetting followed by a thermal sintering step to create porous ceramic (calcium polyphosphates, HA) or metallic matrices (Ti for example).
Selective Laser Melting (SLM), Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) and Electron Beam Melting (EBM) are used to manufacturing of metal implants. In these methods use either a laser or electron beam to melt and fuse material powder together. Bio compatible materials like Stainless Steel (316L), Cobalt chromium and Titanium powder particles are using to manufacturing of implants.
Thank you all for your kind answers. In fact, My question is about a specific type of prosthesis ( below and above knee prosthesis) which is completely different than metallic implants like hip and knee implants which manufactured from Ti6AL4V/CoCr/Stainless Steel via SLM/EBM or any other metallic AM system. The link below contains more information about 3D printed below and above knee prosthesis.
http://www.makepartsfast.com/3d-printers-deliver-competitive-alternative-to-traditional-prosthetic-limbs/
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