According to the expert minds from this industry, around 13% of the annual 3D printing revenues account for the medical sphere. The reason behind this huge percentage can be attributed to the fact that a good amount of medical equipment, paraphernalia, parts, and components are now manufactured or created with the use of 3-dimensional printing methods.
The 3D printing Australian industry is well known due to the level of flexibility that it is offering to medical professionals in as far as creating patient-specific devices at reasonable amounts.
The Medical Industry Primed for 3-Dimensional Manufacturing
In the absence of an accurate imaging process or detailed scanning protocols, the medical industry, as we know it, would be incapacitated and its growth would be hampered. If there is a need to produce detailed surface imaging, the laser scanning method can be taken advantage of while MRI and CT scanning can be utilized instead if you are working on tissues and bones and wanting to obtain their cross-sectional images.
By making use of a proper software application, the created medical images can be used in creating digital models. Completed digital models can be used in rapid prototyping work or 3-dimensional printing of the same.
Hence, it is now possible for us to produce what once were only just theoretical devices, cheaply, quickly, and effectively. Our ability now to produce detailed images makes it possible for us to come up with something that is perfectly matching a patient’s.
Manufacturing requirements for the medical industry
Many good reasons will help us understand why 3-dimensional, otherwise known as additive manufacturing, would work perfectly for medical applications. The most sought after 3D printing service can be taken advantage of to quickly create medical equipment and devices to help patients who are in dire need of those.
Customization
This aspect of 3-dimensional printing is what’s making it highly ideal for use in the medical sphere. Human body parts can be 3D printed, much like how prosthetics work. They are custom formed and shaped in such a way that they would give the patient’s anatomy a snug fit.
Other applications of additive manufacturing include cosmetic prosthetics, dental implants, and even scale models.
Complexity
There is a good chance that the host tissue would be accepting a surgical implant by organic and complex structures. It is normal for them to be prohibitively expensive alongside the conventional methods of manufacturing. However, 3D printing machines can create them but without any extra cost.
Sterilization
It is of paramount importance for medical devices to be made from materials that can be sterilized. The majority of the materials for 3D metal printing or FDM printing can be made sterilized under gamma radiation or steam autoclave.
Speed
It is a very scarce occasion that medical procedures would be taking place under a relaxed schedule. On-demand 3-dimensional manufacturing is giving hospital institutions an ample amount of time for them to source necessary parts that can be completed or accomplished in a reasonable amount of time.
Cost
Additive manufacturing and its flexible nature as its key selling point play a big role in lessening the cost of custom-made medical devices. Individualized implants and prosthetics are now fast becoming the new reality and sought out also by patients from across the globe.
As years are progressing by, we continue to discover more and more applications for 3-dimensional printing, the impact, and relevance it has on the medical industry become even more undeniable and undisputed.