Manufacturing Process of Personalized Polyetheretherketone Implants

To solve the problems, including serious material waste in CNC machining, high processing cost, difficult processing of thin-wall shaped parts, and insufficient mechanical properties of additive manufacturing, a 3D printing stereolithography is used to manufacture high-temperature resistance resin injection mold for personalized polyetheretherketone (PEEK) prosthesis, and a high strength personalized prosthesis is then obtained by injection molding process. The program fully combines the advantages of 3D printing technology with traditional injection molding technology, namely 3D printing technology realizes complex structural shapes, and traditional injection molding technology achieves excellent comprehensive mechanical properties. In the mold core design process the design principle of the parting surface, the selection principle of the mold core fixing method and the principle of whether the core is filled with materials are considered. Personalized PEEK skull and mandibular prosthesis are fabricated by using this protocol, and crystallinity test and tissue observation of the injection molded parts are carried out. The results show that the crystallinity of PEEK injection molded parts reaches 30.82%, and the injection molded parts are densely organized without porosity and defects. Therefore, it is feasible to manufacture personalized PEEK implants with comprehensive mechanical properties by combining 3D printing technology with injection molding technology, especially for the applications of personalized PEEK implants to clinical cases. © 2019, Editorial Office of Journal of Xi'an Jiaotong University. All right reserved.