A Survey of Sustainable Design-Centered Integration for Medical Additive Manufacturing

A number of materials have been used for Medical Additive Manufacturing (MAM), such as stem cells, biopolymers, metals, bio-ceramics, and bio-glass. Recent research includes potential applications in the replacement of human tissues, organs, and bones by using the bio-printing technology. MAM also has been applied to build up a dummy prototype to simulate a complicated operation process before surgery. Sustainable design of MAM has a need for the development of the system to be environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable for its life cycle. This paper surveys the scope of the sustainability of MAM in terms of these three categories. The methodology and tools for assessment of the sustainable development of MAM processes are discussed. This paper analyzes several examples of the application of additive manufacturing in medicine which have been published in recent journals. There are four critical areas of the design-centered system integration for sustainable development in this survey. The investigations for MAM processes including (1) the materials, (2) the precision of the advanced machine tools and tissues, (3) the mechanisms of the processes, and (4) the mechanical properties of the implanted components after MAM. The results can be used as a reference for the assessment of future sustainable Design-Centered Integration for MAM.