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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Producing hip implants of titanium alloys by additive

manufacturing

*
Anatoliy Popovich, Vadim Sufiiarov, Igor Polozov , Evgenii Borisov and Dmitriy Masaylo
Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Politekhnicheskaya ul., 29, St Petersburg, Russia, 195251

Abstract: Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, in particular Selective Laser Melting (SLM) allows the produc-
tion of complex-shaped individual implants from titanium alloys with high biocompatibility, mechanical properties, and
improved osseointegration by surface texturing. In this work, the possibility of producing a custom-made hip implant
from Ti-6Al-4V powder according to the data acquired via computed tomography of the patient is shown. Different heat
treatments were applied in order to achieve better combination of tensile strength and elongation by partial decomposi-
tion of the martensitic phase. The implant was installed to the patient, postoperative supervision has shown good results,
and the patient is able to move with the installed implant. A successful case of applying AM for producing custom hip
implant is demonstrated in the paper. Using AM allowed the production of a custom-made hip implant in a short time
and decreases the operation time and lessens the risk of infection ingress.
Keywords: selective laser melting, implant, Ti-6Al-4V, biomedical application, prosthesis

*Correspondence to: Igor Polozov, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Politekhnicheskaya ul., 29, St Petersburg, Russia,
195251; Email: igor.polozov@gmail.com

Received: April 11, 2016; Accepted: May 17, 2016; Published Online: June 28, 2016
Citation: Popovich A, Sufiiarov V, Polozov I, et al., 2016, Producing hip implants of titanium alloys by additive manufacturing.
International Journal of Bioprinting, vol.2(2): 78–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.18063/IJB.2016.02.004.

1. Introduction SLM consists of forming powder layers, melting them
A according to the CAD-data. Owing to the fully melted
via laser irradiation, and fusing with the previous layer
dditive manufacturing (AM) technologies,
also known as 3D printing, have demonstrat-
powder particles, the produced parts have a high rela-
ed a tremendous growth for the past 30 years
from the development of the first polymer machines to tive density close to 100% and high cooling rates [6−8]
induce fine-dispersed microstructures typical for this
the manufacturing of functional metal parts with ad- method and high mechanical properties [9−11] .
vanced characteristics and bioprinting [1−3] . AM com- Endoprosthesis replacement is one of the most suc-
bines the use of digital design to create a 3D-model of cessful techniques for surgical treatment of patients
the part and produce the part by adding layers of ma- with injuries and hip joint diseases. The demand for
terials using different techniques. AM allows the pro- endoprosthesis replacement is increasing globally [12] .
duction of not only prototypes, but fully functional According to the Hip Arthroplasty Register, about
components for aerospace, the automobile industry, 40,000 arthroplastic surgeries are performed annually
medicine, and et cetera [4,5] . Given the layer-by-layer in the northern European countries; at the same time
manufacturing manner, complex-shaped parts can be more than a million surgeries are performed around
made without using additional tools and joints. Selec- the world and it is expected to double in the near 20
tive Laser Melting (SLM) is one of the most promis- years [13] . Despite the high efficiency of endoprosthesis
ing and used methods among metal AM techniques. replacement, a high percent of patients require a revi-

Producing hip implants of titanium alloys by additive manufacturing. © 2016 Anatoliy Popovich, et al. This is an Open Access article distributed
under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/),
permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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