We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress hp
Sign In
Advertise with Us
ARAB HEALTH - INFORMA

Download Mobile App




3D-Printed Mesh Facilitates Orthopedic Brace Manufacture

By HospiMedica International staff writers
Posted on 04 Jul 2019
Print article
Image: Examples of 3D-printed meshes (Photo courtesy of MIT).
Image: Examples of 3D-printed meshes (Photo courtesy of MIT).
A new study suggests that additive manufacturing (AM) of biomechanically tailored flexible meshes could lead to personalized wearable and implantable devices.

Developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA), the meshes are fabricated by extrusion of thermoplastic polyurethane using a continuous AM tool path to tailor the elasticity of the mesh cells via slack modification and modulation of the filament–filament bonding. The resulting mesh configuration resembles a tough, pliable fabric with directionally specific inversion stiffness. The wider the spacing of the unit cells, the more the mesh can be stretched at low strain before becoming stiffer, a design principle that tailors the mesh's degree of flexibility and helps it mimic soft tissue.

The pliable mesh can also be hardened by printing stainless steel fibers over regions of the elastic mesh where stiffer properties are needed, and then printing a third elastic layer over the steel to sandwich the stiffer thread into the mesh. The combination of both stiff and elastic materials provides the mesh with the ability to stretch easily up to a point, after which it starts to stiffen. The meshes can also be designed as an auxetic structure, a structure that becomes wider when pulled. Auxetic structures can also support highly curved surfaces of the body.

To demonstrate the capabilities of the new mesh, the researchers fashioned an ankle brace with directionally specific inversion stiffness arising from the embedded mesh, which can provide stronger support to prevent, for instance, a muscle from overstraining. They mesh's structure prevents the ankle from turning inward, while still allowing the joint to move freely in other directions. The tensile mesh mechanics of the brace were engineered to match the nonlinear response of muscle. The researchers also fabricated a knee brace that conforms to the knee as it bends, and a glove with a 3D-printed mesh sewn into its top surface, which conforms to a wearer's knuckles. The study was published on June 19, 2019, in Advanced Functional Materials.

“We were trying to think of how we can make 3D-printed constructs more flexible and comfortable, like textiles and fabrics. One of the reasons textiles are so flexible is that the fibers are able to move relative to each other easily,” said lead author mechanical engineer Sebastian Pattinson, PhD. “There's potential to make all sorts of devices that interface with the human body. Surgical meshes, orthoses, even cardiovascular devices like stents; you can imagine all potentially benefiting from the kinds of structures we show.”

Additive manufacturing describes technologies that build 3D objects using computer-aided design (CAD) modeling software, machine equipment, and layering material. Once a CAD sketch is produced, the data is relayed to the printer, which lays downs or adds successive layers of liquid, powder, sheet material or other, in a layer-upon-layer fashion to fabricate a 3D object. Many technologies are included in this definition, such as rapid prototyping, direct digital manufacturing, layered manufacturing, and additive fabrication.

Related Links:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Gold Member
STI Test
Vivalytic Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) Array
Gold Member
POC Blood Gas Analyzer
Stat Profile Prime Plus
New
Transparietal Needle
PIA
New
3T MRI Scanner
MAGNETOM Cima.X

Print article

Channels

Critical Care

view channel
Image: The AI-powered algorithm offers quick, no-contact screenings for high blood pressure and diabetes (Photo courtesy of 123RF)

AI-Powered Algorithm Offers Quick, Contactless Blood Pressure and Diabetes Screening

A newly developed system that combines high-speed video with an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered algorithm may provide a quick, non-contact method for screening high blood pressure and Type 1 or Type... Read more

Surgical Techniques

view channel
Image: Catheters coated with the new material showed a significant reduction in clotting on the device surface (Photo courtesy of UBC Faculty of Medicine)

Newly Developed Coating Makes Medical Devices Clot-Free

Thrombosis, or the formation of blood clots, presents a significant challenge for devices that come into contact with blood. Unlike natural blood vessels, these devices can activate specific proteins in... Read more

Patient Care

view channel
Image: The portable biosensor platform uses printed electrochemical sensors for the rapid, selective detection of Staphylococcus aureus (Photo courtesy of AIMPLAS)

Portable Biosensor Platform to Reduce Hospital-Acquired Infections

Approximately 4 million patients in the European Union acquire healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) or nosocomial infections each year, with around 37,000 deaths directly resulting from these infections,... Read more

Point of Care

view channel
Image: The acoustic pipette uses sound waves to test for biomarkers in blood (Photo courtesy of Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder)

Handheld, Sound-Based Diagnostic System Delivers Bedside Blood Test Results in An Hour

Patients who go to a doctor for a blood test often have to contend with a needle and syringe, followed by a long wait—sometimes hours or even days—for lab results. Scientists have been working hard to... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2024 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.