Celebrating ten years of metal additively manufactured hip cups

News
March 7, 2018

March 7, 2018

World’s first metal 3D printed hip implant turns ten

Arcam’s Delta-TT Cup, first produced in 2007 (Courtesy GE)

 

The world’s first metal additively manufactured acetabular cup for use in a hip replacement was produced a decade ago this year, according to GE. The trabecular titanium AM hip cup was produced in 2007 by LimaCorporate and Arcam (now a GE Additive company), in partnership with Dr Guido Grappiolo, a surgeon at Italy’s Fondazione Livio Sciutto ONLUS.

The acetabular cup, named the Delta-TT Cup, marked the first venture into one of metal Additive Manufacturing’s most successful application areas. Since 2007, Arcam states that it has produced 100,000 hip cups on its own machines, and estimates that hundreds of thousands more have been made by other metal Additive Manufacturing companies.

Key to the success of metal AM implants is their ability to incorporate rough three-dimensional surface structures which imitate natural trabecular bone morphology, according to LimaCorporate.

 

World’s first metal 3D printed hip implant turns ten

Since 2007, Arcam states that it has produced 100,000 metal AM hip cups (Courtesy GE)

 

This encourages bone in-growth – wherein the patient’s bone ‘accepts’ the implant as a part of the skeletal structure and begins to grow into it, thereby enhancing patient success rates. This was made clear with the first Delta-TT Cup: a few months after the operation in which it was implanted, Dr Grappiolo reported that a CT scan already showed the patient’s bone to be growing into the hexagonal cells on the surface of the implant.

The lifespan of a conventionally manufactured hip cup implant typically ranges from ten to fifteen years, with the maximum lifespan considered to be twenty years, after which it must be replaced with a new implant in a second surgery. Having recently assessed the patient who received the first AM hip cup, Dr Grappiolo stated that he believes metal additively manufactured hip cups have the potential to last “a lifetime.”

www.arcam.com

www.ge.com

News
March 7, 2018

In the latest issue of Metal AM magazine

Download PDF
 

Extensive AM industry news coverage, as well as the following exclusive deep-dive articles:

  • Aluminium Additive Manufacturing: How a new generation of alloys will fuel industry growth
  • Shaping a national Additive Manufacturing ecosystem: The strategic growth of metal AM in Türkiye
  • How metal Additive Manufacturing is transforming modern hydraulic systems
  • High-performance product development in the era of computational design: a case study with nTop and NASA
  • The Additive Manufacturing of record-breaking pure copper heatsinks for high-performance computing applications
  • The Additive Manufacturing of tool steels: how non-linear modelling enables precise hardness control

Join 40,000+ other AM professionals – follow us online

Don’t miss a thing – register for our newsletter

Don't miss any new issue of Metal AM magazine, and get the latest industry news. Sign up to our twice weekly newsletter.

Register now

Looking for AM machines, metal powders or part manufacturing services?

Discover suppliers of these and more in our comprehensive advertisers’ index and buyer’s guide, available in the back of Metal AM magazine.

  • AM machines
  • Process monitoring & calibration
  • Heat treatment & sintering
  • HIP systems & services
  • Pre- & post-processing technology
  • Powders, powder production and analysis
  • Part manufacturers
  • Consulting, training & market data
Find suppliers

About Metal Additive Manufacturing magazine

Metal AM magazine, published quarterly in digital and print formats, is read by a rapidly expanding international audience.

Our audience includes component manufacturers, end-users, materials and equipment suppliers, analysts, researchers and more.

In addition to providing extensive industry news coverage, Metal AM magazine is known for exclusive, in-depth articles and technical reports.

Our focus is the entire metal AM process from design to application.

Each issue is available as an easy-to-navigate digital edition and a high-quality print publication.

Discover our magazine archive…

The free to access Metal Additive Manufacturing magazine archive offers unparalleled insight into the world of metal Additive Manufacturing from a commercial and technological perspective through:

  • Reports on visits to leading metal AM part manufacturers and industry suppliers
  • Articles on technology and application trends
  • Information on materials developments
  • Reviews of key technical presentations from the international conference circuit
  • International industry news

All past issues are available to download as free PDFs or view in your browser.

Browse the archive

Share via
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap