The influence of build orientation on the mechanical properties of medical implants made from PA 2200 by Selective Laser Sintering

Abstract

This paper presents a series of research that have been made by the authors in the field of medical implants realized from PA 2200 powder material using the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) method. Several sets of samples differently oriented into the working area of the machine were manufactured from PA 2200 by SLS, in order to determine which is the recommended orientation to be used during the manufacturing process, in such a way that at the end the mechanical properties (e.g. Compressive strength, Young’s modulus, etc.) will be as closed as possible to the ones of the human bones. The obtained results were further on used in the case of a medical implant (Acetabular liner) that was manufactured at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (TUCN) from PA 2200 material using the DTM Sinterstation 2000 SLS equipment.