Guyson International has come up with a solution to a problem during additive manufactured orthopaedic implant manufacture.

Its Powder Flush has been designed to flush residual additive manufacturing (AM) powders from medical implant trabecular structures, which aid the interlocking human bone growth into the implant.

Orthopaedic manufacturers are turning to additive manufacturing to drive the long term change in the increased complexity of medical implant design and demand for tailor made patient-specific solutions (rather than one-size-fits-all) with the change in manufacturing from subtractive to additive techniques, with all the benefits that can bring.

Additive manufactured orthopaedic implants are typically made by SLS, SLM or EBM processes (Selective Laser Sintering, Selective Laser Melting or Electron Beam Melting) from titanium powders. After manufacture, the implants have the bulk of the residue powder removed from the build block with brushes and vacuums, sometimes followed with an air-wash or blast process to remove any semi-adhered powder particles, but because of the nature of the porous trabecular structures, small residues of powder are often still trapped inside the component and this must be removed. This is where the Guyson Powder Flush can be used, offering directed jets for component flushing followed by compressed air-wash.