Progress for Additive Manufacturing

06/19/2023

Professor Jürgen Groll has raised around 880,000 euros for a new project. His team wants to use this to lay the foundations for improved multifunctional medical implants and materials.

Examples of printing techniques: Stereolithography can be used to produce components in great detail by selectively cross-linking a resin. Extrusion-based 3D printing processes can be used to produce multi-component parts. The new "melt electrowriting" printing process enables the production of scaffold supports from fibres with diameters smaller than human hair. These thin fibres make it possible to control the cell-material interactions in scaffold carriers. (Image: Lehrstuhl für Funktionswerkstoffe der Medizin und der Zahnheilkunde / Universität Würzburg)

3D printers can be used to efficiently produce technical materials and medical implants. This type of production is also known as additive manufacturing.

However, if the products are to consist of several materials and fulfil several functions, there are still hurdles to overcome - material properties have to be coordinated and the precision of the components increased. It is also not yet possible to control the quality of the manufacturing process during printing.

These challenges are being addressed by a new project at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU), which was submitted with the support of the Service Centre for Research and Technology Transfer (SFT) during the preparation of the project application.

The SFT advises JMU scientists on applying for funding from the European ERDF and ESF funds. The term ERDF stands for European Regional Development Fund and ESF for European Social Fund. These funds are the EU's most important instruments for strengthening economic, social and territorial cohesion.

Money For Two Scientific Staff Positions

The Bavarian Ministry of Science is funding Jürgen Groll's project "Customised components for the additive manufacturing of multi-material products (for technology and clinics)" with around 880,000 euros from ERDF funds. The project was launched at the beginning of May 2023 and will run for four years; the funding will be used for two scientific staff positions.

Project leader Professor Jürgen Groll holds the Chair of Functional Materials in Medicine and Dentistry. His team wants to further develop additive manufacturing technologies in cooperation with nine small and medium-sized companies.

What the ERDF-funded Project Aims to Achieve

One goal is to implement machine learning algorithms that recognise manufacturing errors during 3D printing in real time and immediately counteract them by adjusting the printing parameters. The project team is also aiming to combine different processes to enable the production of previously unprintable multifunctional workpieces. In addition, new customised polymer and ceramic materials are to be developed for 3D printing.

Areas of application include patient-specific implants for hard and soft tissue, for example in the area of the facial skull, where printed fibre scaffolds serve to mechanically reinforce the component or provide a directed pore structure for the ingrowth of cells after detachment. The production of bioreactors in which the cell-laden scaffolds are cultivated can also be customised.

A technology transfer to technical applications, for example the additive manufacturing of porous ceramic membranes for filter and separation purposes, is also being sought.

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Involved

Bavaria Filaments, Freilassing
BioCer Entwicklungs-GmbH, Bayreuth
Curasan AG, Kleinostheim
nanoplus Advanced Photonics Gerbrunn GmbH
HuemmerSeidl GbR / NEROW, Rügheim
Peter Brehm GmbH, Weisendorf
ppPrint GmbH, Bayreuth
TUTOGEN MEDICAL GmbH, Neunkirchen am Brand
Engineering office Christian Reil (CR-3D), Cham

15 Years of Expertise in Additive Manufacturing

The Würzburg Chair of Functional Materials in Medicine and Dentistry has more than 15 years of expertise in the application of 3D printing processes.

Additive manufacturing techniques such as 3D powder printing, digital light processing or stereolithography are used here to produce carrier structures for cells, patient-specific ceramic implants and bioreactors for cell culture. The chair covers the entire production chain: the design of the structures, the development of materials that are customised for the printing process, the production itself and the post-treatment to adjust the desired material properties.

The EU ERDF Funding Programme

The European Union's ERDF funding programme supports technology transfer projects between universities and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Researchers are to support the companies with current issues - with the aim of stimulating further innovations in SMEs and putting them in an early position as technology leaders in a developing market.