title: Digital fabrication of multi-material biomedical objects.
abstract: This paper describes a multi-material virtual prototyping (MMVP) system for modelling and digital fabrication of discrete and functionally graded multi-material objects for biomedical applications. The MMVP system consists of a DMMVP module, an FGMVP module and a virtual reality (VR) simulation module. The DMMVP module is used to model discrete multi-material (DMM) objects, while the FGMVP module is for functionally graded multi-material (FGM) objects. The VR simulation module integrates these two modules to perform digital fabrication of multi-material objects, which can be subsequently visualized and analysed in a virtual environment to optimize MMLM processes for fabrication of product prototypes. Using the MMVP system, two biomedical objects, including a DMM human spine and an FGM intervertebral disc spacer are modelled and digitally fabricated for visualization and analysis in a VR environment. These studies show that the MMVP system is a practical tool for modelling, visualization, and subsequent fabrication of biomedical objects of discrete and functionally graded multi-materials for biomedical applications. The system may be adapted to control MMLM machines with appropriate hardware for physical fabrication of biomedical objects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D020811:Biomedical Technology / Q000379:methods*; D003196:Computer Graphics; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D006801:Humans; D007403:Intervertebral Disc / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D011474:Prosthesis Design / Q000379:methods*; D012984:Software; D013131:Spine / Q000033:anatomy & histology
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials