Calcium sulphate based 3D printed tooling for vacuum forming of medical devices: An experimental evaluation

Medical devices such as prosthetics and orthotics are highly customized products and are designed to fit unique geometry of the patient's existing or residual body part. Traditional manual processes are time consuming and painful to patient. This paper discusses the possibility to use patient-specific 3D printed mould to produce these medical devices through vacuum forming process. Various tests have been conducted to evaluate and compare mechanical properties of calcium sulphate based 3D printing powder and traditional POP based powders used by medical practitioners. Results show that calcium sulphate based 3D printing powder possess approximately double pneumatic permeability and almost equal wear ability, hardness, flexural strength, water dissolution and tensile strength than the traditional POP material. The study concludes that 3D printed moulds can be used as vacuum forming mould to manufacture medical devices. The use of 3D printed mould will not only reduce the manufacturing lead time of devices but also patients' pain and number of visits to the clinic.