Arcam and Lima celebrate 10 years of additively manufactured titanium implants
March 19, 2017
In 2017, Arcam AB, Mӧlndal, Sweden, celebrates its 20th anniversary and enters its tenth year of co-operation with orthopedic implant manufacturer Lima Corporate, based in Villanova di San Daniele del Friuli, Italy. Lima produces its Trabecular Titanium orthopaedic implants using Arcam’s Electron Beam Melting (EBM) Additive Manufacturing technology.
Trabecular Titanium (Courtesy Lima)
Lima’s proprietary Trabecular Titanium process offers enhanced osseointegration through a unique combination of interconnected geometric structures. Trabecular Titanium is a biomaterial characterised by a regular, three-dimensional, hexagonal cell structure that imitates trabecular bone morphology. It has a high open porosity (65%) and a mean pore diameter of 640 µm.
The prosthetic components in Trabecular Titanium are additively manufactured, allowing for the creation of three-dimensional designs involving either dense or porous parts. The absence of an interface between the external trabecular structure and the bulk provides higher structural solidity and tensile resistance, reducing the risk of delamination, shedding and galvanic effects that are typical of macro-rough coatings, for example.
Arcam and Lima’s collaboration began in 2007, helping Lima pioneer additively manufactured implants in the growing medical sector. Lima decided to use Arcam’s EBM system to address the functional limits of the coatings applied to traditional prosthetic implants and to further develop the potential of the Trabecular Titanium process using Arcam’s AM knowledge and experience.
