BackgroundPrimary malignant or metastatic sternal tumors are uncommon. A subtotal or total sternectomy can offer a radical form of treatment. The issue is to restore the structural integrity of the chest wall.Case presentationWe report the implantation of an individualized 3D–printed titanium sternum in a patient with a sternal tumor.ConclusionsWe believe that tridimensional print technologies may also change the strategy of chest wall reconstruction.
The aim of this work was to investigate the microstructure and mechanical properties of samples produced by direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) with varied laser beam speed before and after heat treatment. Optical analysis of as-built samples revealed microstructure built of martensite needles and columnar grains, growing epitaxially towards the built direction. External and internal pores, un-melted or semi-melted powder particles and inclusions in the examined samples were also observed. The strength and Young’s modulus of the DMLS samples before heat treatment was higher than for cast and forged samples; however, the elongation at break for vertical and horizontal orientation was lower than required for biomedical implants. After heat treatment, the hardness of the samples decreased, which is associated with the disappearance of boundary effect and martensite decomposition to lamellar mixture of α and β, and the anisotropic behaviour of the material also disappears. Ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and yield strength(YS) also decreased, while elongation increased. Tensile properties were sensitive to the build orientation, which indicates that DMLS generates anisotropy of material as a result of layered production and elongated β prior grains. It was noticed that inappropriate selection of parameters did not allow properties corresponding to the standards to be obtained due to the high porosity and defects of the microstructure caused by insufficient energy density.
This contribution is focused on the influence of build orientation on hardness of materials sintered using direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) technology. It builds on the current research works that has monitored the influence of build orientation on a fatigue life, mechanical properties, roughness after machining, etc. In the mentioned work, a slight influence of build orientation on the above properties was shown. The hardness was measured on a Ti6Al4V alloy which was made of powder by DMLS technology. The individual materials were sintered at different laser powers, then annealed to remove internal stresses. Part of the experiment examined the metallographic analysis of materials in the direction perpendicular to the sintered layers and parallel with the sintered layers. Microhardness was measured on metallographic cross-sections and the results were statistically processed. The influence of laser power on a respective material hardness was assessed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), a comparison of the hardness between sintered and sintered-annealed samples, as well as the comparison of hardness in the two considered directions was performed by t-test and F-test. A statistically significant difference in the hardness of the materials prepared at different laser powers was found. The influence of heat treatment, as well as the direction of material building also showed a statistically significant difference.
Ti6Al4V samples have been prepared by Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) with varied laser power. Some of the samples were stress-relief annealed. The microstructure of materials was investigated using a light microscopy. Columnar grains of martensite dominate in as-made microstructure. Stress-relief annealing led to the white acicular phase growth in the structure with a fishbone arrangement on the boundary of some original martensitic needles. Mechanical properties of materials were characterized through hardness measurement in two directions relating to the sample building direction. It was found that the hardness of materials increased with a laser power and values varied from 370 to 415 HV 0.3/30. After stress-relief annealing, the structure of materials being homogenized, pattern spacing dissolved and the hardness in both directions became stabilized at values of 350-370 HV 0.3/30. The laser power affects the corrosion rate of the material. The lowest corrosion rate was recorded at the maximum laser power (190 W). Heat treatment does not affect the corrosion rate remarkably, however it leads to stabilization of corrosion potential of materials Ecorr. The surface of the samples was modified by an abrasive blasting using spherical (zirblast) and sharp-edged (white corundum) blasting abrasives and three levels of air pressure. The abrasive blasting of sintered materials led to a decrease of the surface roughness of materials with air pressure increasing. Blasting with zirblast led to a more significant decrease of roughness parameters compared with surfaces blasted with sharp-edged white aluminum. Different shapes of abrasives caused characteristic surface morphology.
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