Irish firm Croom Medical, specializing in precision manufacturing for orthopedic implants, has formally launched the TALOS know-how platform for 3D printed tantalum (Ta) parts. The platform was developed in collaboration with World Superior Metals (GAM), a high provider of tantalum powder options for steel additive manufacturing. As Croom Medical says in a press launch, TALOS “represents a major development in additive manufacturing.” The platform makes use of superior laser powder mattress fusion (LPBF) to supply options that can work throughout each industrial and medical wants.
“The launch of TALOS™ positions us on the forefront of medical innovation, reinforcing our dedication to steady innovation and superior affected person care,” stated Dr. Shane Keaveney, R&D Supervisor at Croom Medical.
Tantalum parts, manufactured utilizing Croom Medical’s TALOS™ additive manufacturing platform, being fastidiously unloaded post-print.
Tantalum provides excessive corrosion resistance, mechanical energy, and biocompatibility, which is why it’s an amazing selection for medical implants. However the materials may be tough to course of, so it has not been extensively adopted by the industries that might most profit from its use. However now that the TALOS platform is commercially accessible by way of Croom Medical’s contract manufacturing providers, this ought to be much less of a problem. TALOS makes it potential to provide light-weight, porous, robust, and complicated constructions for each industrial and medical gadget functions, from impellers to implants.
“Tantalum has lengthy been valued for its excellent biointegration, corrosion resistance, and mechanical properties,” defined Dr. Keaveney. “With TALOS™, we unlock these intrinsic qualities, permitting exact management over implant ductility and energy to intently match native bone.”
Tantalum-based radial impeller produced utilizing Croom Medical’s TALOS™ 3D printing platform.
Croom Medical says that the TALOS platform can obtain densities as much as 99.99%, ship open porous constructions for medical units, and supply exact management over print parameters for tantalum, in addition to mobile lattice construction design. This makes it potential to tailor the fabric’s energy and ductility to match native bone. Actually, the corporate says that AM-optimized tantalum can obtain over 40% elongation, reducing the chance of fracture and enabling extra versatile but complicated designs.
An attention-grabbing side of TALOS is that it will probably print tantalum immediately onto titanium substrates, which mixes its osteoconductivity and corrosion resistance with titanium’s energy and decrease density. This implies customers could make 3D printed implants which have the next bone fixation, so there’s much less likelihood {that a} affected person would wish to return to the hospital for a revision surgical procedure later.
“TALOS™ aligns with our mission to advance manufacturing applied sciences, considerably enhancing affected person outcomes by producing implants with superior biointegration, diminished stress shielding, and distinctive fatigue resistance,” stated Patrick Byrnes, the CEO of Croom Medical. “These advantages ought to decrease the speed of surgical procedure revisions, thus avoiding affected person discomfort and pointless added surgical procedure prices.”
A choice of tantalum-based medical and industrial parts, 3D printed by Croom Medical utilizing the TALOS™ platform.
Along with medical units like orthopedic implants, TALOS shall be very helpful within the power and industrial sectors. That’s due to its potential to fabricate near-net form parts with complicated design options like mobile lattices, inner cooling or mixing channels, managed porosity zones, and floor textures. Some great benefits of TALOS in these fields may be put to good use in functions equivalent to chemical processing, high-temperature operations, and energy technology.
One other vital side of Croom Medical’s TALOS platform is sustainability. GAM provides conflict-free, ethically-sourced tantalum powder, and any materials leftover goes proper again to GAM, which helps a full closed-loop recycling course of.
“After 3D printing, leftover powder from Croom Medical is returned to GAM, the place it undergoes rigorous refining and reprocessing earlier than re-entering the manufacturing cycle,” stated World Superior Metals CEO Dr. Gordon C. Smith. “This method maximises materials effectivity and ensures a safe, constant provide of tantalum.”
Croom Medical’s additive manufacturing engineer working the Colibrium Additive M2 Sequence 5 system, residence to the TALOS™ platform.
The TALOS platform by Croom Medical and GAM, supported by the Colibrium Additive M2 Sequence 5, is now able to help buyer tasks from prototyping all the best way to quantity manufacturing.
Pictures courtesy of Croom Medical
Subscribe to Our E mail Publication
Keep up-to-date on all the most recent information from the 3D printing trade and obtain data and provides from third occasion distributors.
Add your 3D Fashions and get them printed rapidly and effectively.
