Layer manufacturing of magnesium and its alloy structures for future applications

This research aims to develop a rapid layer manufacturing technique to provide magnesium bone substitute for future applications in the medical fields. Selective laser melting (SLM), which is a laser based additive layer manufacturing technique and capable of producing required geometries directly from CAD data, is selected to build magnesium structures. Magnesium has several intrinsic properties including its excellent biocompatibility, biodegradable, bioresorbabiltity and proper mechanical properties which would make it suitable for orthopaedic applications. This paper will discuss the status quo of this material and its future implications. A miniature SLM system was built to achieve better control of the atmospheric conditions in which the magnesium would melt. The results revealed that the SLM is a promising technique to fabricate magnesium substitute for various orthopaedic applications.