Usage of Industrial Computed Tomography for Evaluation of Custom-Made Implants

Development of additive technologies and biocompatible materials facilitated their use in the custom-made implants manufacture. Verification of custom-made implants manufactured using the additive manufacturing technologies is the key task to be fulfilled prior to the clinical application of an implant. It consists of parameters verification within individual steps, from a software design, through manufacturing, surface finishing, up to finalization of a medical product. The article presents possible uses of a 3D printing and the computed tomography (Metrotom 1500, Carl Zeiss, Germany) for the verification of selected parameters of customized implants manufactured using the Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) technology with the EOSINT M280 equipment (EOS GmbH, Germany) from the biocompatible titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V (Grade 5). The article describes the possibilities of the computed tomography use in the verification of implant shapes and external dimensions, as well as internal structure. The internal structure means the implant porosity assessment.