Professor Jürgen Groll has raised around 880,000 euros for a new project. His team wants to use it to lay the foundation for improved multifunctional medical implants and materials.
3D printers can be used to efficiently produce engineering materials and medical implants. This type of production is also known as additive manufacturing.
However, if the products are to be made of several materials and perform several functions, there are still hurdles to overcome - material properties have to be matched to one another, and the precision of the components has to be 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 the Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg (JMU), which was submitted with support in preparing the project application from the Service Center for Research and Technology Transfer (SFT).
The SFT advises scientists at JMU on applying for funding from the European Funds ERDF and ESF. The designation ERDF means European Regional Development Fund, ESF stands 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 thus funding Jürgen Groll’s project , "Customized components for the additive manufacturing of multimaterial products (for technology and clinical use)" from ERDF funds with around 880,000 euros. 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 enterprises.
What the ERDF-funded project aims to achieve
One goal is to implement machine learning algorithms that detect manufacturing errors in 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 make it possible to produce multifunctional workpieces that were previously impossible to print. In addition, new polymer and ceramic materials tailored for 3D printing are to be developed.Applications include patient-specific implants for hard and soft tissue, for example in the area of the facial skull, where imprinted fiber scaffolds serve to mechanically reinforce the component or provide a directed pore structure for the ingrowth of cells after detachment. But the production of bioreactors in which the cell-loaded scaffolds are cultivated can also be customized.
The aim is also to transfer the technology to technical applications, such as the additive manufacturing of porous ceramic membranes for filtering and separation purposes.
Small and medium-sized enterprises involved
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.Here, additive manufacturing techniques such as 3D powder printing, digital light processing or stereolithography are used to fabricate support structures for cells, patient-specific ceramic implants and bioreactors for cell culture. The chair covers the entire manufacturing chain: the design of the structures, the development of materials tailored for the printing process, the manufacturing itself, and the post-treatment to adjust the desired material properties.
