Bone implant production process combines 3D printing and plasma coating

According to the group from the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering the secret lies in the printing process, where the individual layers are treated with a cold plasma in order to improve the bonding of bone-forming cells.

Whereas conventional surface treatments using low-pressure or atmospheric pressure techniques have a limited penetration into the interior of bone implants, the new method makes it possible to apply a cell-growth-promoting coating to the interior of the implants.

The team’s technique works by blowing a cold jet of plasma containing reactive groups directly onto the printed layers. The amino groups bond with the surface and ensure that bone cells find a convenient substrate to which they readily adhere.

A unique feature of the technique is that the 3D printing and coating processes go hand in hand and are combined in one device. Because no chemical pre-treatment with solvents is required for the coating, it is not only cost-effective, but environmentally friendly also. The scaffold around which the implant is built is made from a special copolymer that is modelled on the natural bone.