In Australia, in a world first, researchers harnessed the power of diamonds in a breakthrough that could radically improve the way human bodies accept biomedical implants. RMIT University researchers, for the first time, successfully coated 3D printed titanium implants with diamond, which is the first step toward 3D printed diamond implants for biomedical uses and orthopedics.
While titanium offers a fast, accurate and reliable material for medical grade and patient-specific implants, our bodies can sometimes reject this material. This is due to chemical compounds on titanium, which prevent tissue and bone from interacting effectively with biomedical implants. Synthetic diamond provides an inexpensive solution to this problem.
The breakthrough was made possible with recent advances in the 3D printing of titanium scaffolds at RMIT’s Advanced Manufacturing Precinct. The coating is created via a microwave plasma process at the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication. The titanium scaffolds and diamond are combined to create the biomaterial.