Session: 02-15-01: BioManufacturing and Biomaterials

Paper Number: 71973

Start Time: Friday, 03:55 PM

71973 - Additive Manufacturing in the Biomedical Space: A Current Review 

Over the past ten years, the world has witnessed an additive manufacturing boom. A process which was once considered highly complex and restricted is now readily accessible by the aspiring industrialist and regular household alike. With a steady increase in availability, approachability and affordability, additive manufacturing has solidified itself as an essential tool in many fields. Adoption of additive manufacturing in the biomedical field has produced very promising innovations. Individuals are able to manufacturing tissues, organs, prosthetics, implants, micro-devices and drug delivery apparatuses at varying levels of efficacy and affordability.
Fusion deposition modeling (FDM), stereolithography (SLA), selective laser sintering (SLS), selective laser melting (SLM), electron beam melting (EBM), direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), laser engineered net shaping (LENS) and laser metal deposition (LMD) printing technologies used within the biomedical space will be discussed. Challenges with the implementation of FDM, SLA, SLS, SLM, EBM, DMLS, LENS and LMD as manufacturing solutions will be discussed. Domain specific applications of manufacturing tissues, organs, prosthetics, implants, micro-devices and drug delivery apparatuses will be discussed. The implication of widespread accessibility to biomedical devices will be discussed. Cost analysis for each application and its resulting feasibility using FDM, SLA, SLS, SLM, EBM, DMLS, LENS and LMD printing technologies will be discussed. Scalability, and maturity of each technology-specific application will be discussed. Future applications not yet widely implemented in the biomedical space will be also discussed. Emerging additive manufacturing processes multi material additive manufacturing (MMAM) and 4D printing will be discussed as well. The relevance these technologies carry in the biomedical space will also be discussed. Proposals for mediating the challenges associated with FDM, SLA, SLS, DMLS, LENS, LMD, MMAM, and 4D printing processes will be discussed. The future outlook for additive manufacturing in the biomedical space will be discussed. Finally, proposals for future work in additive manufacturing for the biomedical space will be discussed.
Over the course of this paper, it will be conveyed that the adoption of additive manufacturing in the biomedical space is not solely taking advantage of a modern convenience, but rather a representation of a change in paradigm to allow automation to enter a space that greatly benefits from it. This adoption will ultimately lead to necessary future innovation that would otherwise be unattainable. In addition, it will be also conveyed that a widespread adoption of a standardized additive manufacturing approach will result in an increased accessibility to essential non-invasive biomedical devices. 

Presenting Author: Liam Dingle Algoma University

Authors:

Liam Dingle Algoma University
Bin Wei Algoma University