Washington: A latest research has said that 3D printer is being used to judge the resemblance between real bone and the “fake” one. It looks like the real thing and it feels like the real thing. It is also as strong as the real thing and has no reported adverse side effects.
A large research team from Washington State University worked on this project, including doctoral student Gary Fielding, mechanical and materials engineering professor Amit Bandyopadhyay, Susmita Bose and research assistant Solaiman Tarafder.
The researchers say they`re already seeing promising results with in-vivo tests on rats and rabbits.
The research in total took four years, and required many different disciplines to be taken into account to have this creation brought to life: biology, chemistry, material science, and manufacturing.
The main and initially exciting finding behind the research was that adding zinc and silicon to the main material for the bone, calcium phosphate, doubled its strength. The next exciting finding was that widely available ProMetal 3D printers could make metal objects.
The researchers say doctors should be able to use the process to custom-order replacement bone tissue in a few years time.
