HIRESEBM · High resolution electron beam melting

HiResEBM is a partnership between EU SMEs and RTD providers with the aim of developing an electron beam melting (EBM) additive manufacturing process to enable the fabrication of high resolution medical implants with optimised porous structures directly from metal powder. Currently the design of medical implants with porous structures is limited by production technologies not being able to implement complex 3D structures. These complex structures are used to improve the initial fixation strength and the long term osteointegration properties of implants which lead to better quality of life for the patients. However, many patients undergo revision surgery within five years of receiving the original implant. The objective of HiResEBM is to produce an efficient manufacturing process that will allow any designed porosity to be incorporated into any part of an implant – giving complete freedom to design the ‘optimum’ implant. The consortium is composed of several companies with resources and experiences in different fields relating to the technical barriers to be overcome during the project, such as:-Expertise in electron beam gun design, to produce a new high precision EB system-R&D experience in additive manufacturing with fine powders-Coating processes used for the medical implant marketThe advantage of the new EBM system are that any theoretically designed medical implant with complex 3D porous structures will be able to be cost effectively manufactured using the EBM system. Current systems are capable of producing ~3000 parts per year and are able to recycle unused powder for further processing. The ever increasing mean population age and the prevalence of degenerative bone diseases means that the demand for implants is going to increase significantly and place an even greater burden on our EU health care systems. By introducing new manufacturing technology and improving the revision rates saving of the order of €240M a year are possible.