Sigma Receives Admaflex 130 Printer For Bioceramics

Sigma in Clermont Ferrand (France) is developing new bioceramic materials such as hydroxyapatite.

To shape these new materials into 3D geometries that were previously unachievable using traditional manufacturing, Sigma has invested in 3D printers and post-processing equipment, such as cleaning equipment allowing to clean and post-process complex structures such as used in patient specific medical implants.

To have maximum flexibility in developing own materials, the Admaflex 130 3d printer allows Sigma to optimize all settings to the newly developed materials, before and during the print job. The machine is delivered with a vision-based monitoring system for a fully traceable printing process. Although the current focus is mainly on bio-ceramics, the ceramic 3d printer is already equipped with an add-on for printing metals as well.

This photo shows a demonstrator part, which has been printed in hydroxyapatite. The geometry was used to prove the suitability of the system to produce complex medical implants.

The supports were generated with the automatic support generation software, which is a standard feature in the latest Admaflex user interface software.