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REVIEW ARTICLE

3D Printing Technologies in Metallic Implants: A

Thematic Review on the Techniques and Procedures

Shokouh Attarilar , Mahmoud Ebrahimi , Faramarz Djavanroodi , Yuanfei Fu ,
1,2
6
3
4,5
Liqiang Wang *, Junlin Yang *
1
2
1 Department of Pediatric Orthopaedics, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, School of Medicine,
Shanghai, China
2 State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Material Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong
University, Shanghai, China
3 National Engineering Research Center of Light Alloy Net Forming, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai
Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
4 Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, Al Khobar, KSA
5 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK
6 Ninth People’s Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200011, China

Abstract: Additive manufacturing (AM) is among the most attractive methods to produce implants, the processes are very swift
and it can be precisely controlled to meet patient’s requirement since they can be produced in exact shape, dimension, and even
texture of different living tissues. Until now, lots of methods have emerged and used in this field with diverse characteristics. This
review aims to comprehensively discuss 3D printing (3DP) technologies to manufacture metallic implants, especially on techniques
and procedures. Various technologies based on their main properties are categorized, the effecting parameters are introduced, and
the history of AM technology is briefly analyzed. Subsequently, the utilization of these AM-manufactured components in medicine
along with their effectual variables is discussed, and special attention is paid on to the production of porous scaffolds, taking
pore size, density, etc., into consideration. Finally, 3DP of the popular metallic systems in medical applications such as titanium,
Ti6Al4V, cobalt-chromium alloys, and shape memory alloys are studied. In general, AM manufactured implants need to comply
with important requirements such as biocompatibility, suitable mechanical properties (strength and elastic modulus), surface
conditions, custom-built designs, fast production, etc. This review aims to introduce the AM technologies in implant applications
and find new ways to design more sophisticated methods and compatible implants that mimic the desired tissue functions.
Keywords: Additive manufacturing; 3D printing techniques; Biometals; Implants; Porous scaffolds

*Correspondence to: Liqiang Wang, State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Material Science and Engineering, Shanghai
Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China; wang_liqiang@sjtu.edu.cn. Junlin Yang, Department of Pediatric Orthopaedics, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated
to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; yjunlin@126.com
Received: August 28, 2020; Accepted: October 16, 2020; Published Online: December 9, 2020

Citation: Attarilar S, Ebrahimi M, Djavanroodi F, et al., 2021, 3D Printing Technologies in Metallic Implants: A Thematic
Review on the Techniques and Procedures. Int J Bioprint, 7(1): 306. http://doi.org/10.18063/ijb.v7i1.306

1. Introduction with rapid healing time, fast preparation of implants,

As the world’s elderly population grows, the need for and custom-built implants that are tailored to patients’
medical implants is rapidly growing. It is expected that fracture conditions. Furthermore, avoiding possible
the number of people aged 65 or above will increase to subsidiary issues arise from low-quality designs, stress-
about 20% of the world population by 2050 . These shielding effects, and infections. The traditionally
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elderly patients and other patients with bone fracture and manufactured implants have a lot of limitations, such as
failures need special cares, specifically those associated a time-consuming production process, low capability in
© 2020 Attarilar, 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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