LithaBone HA 480: Lithoz introduces new bone graft substitute for 3D printing

Through intensive cooperation with users of their previous bone substitute materials for ceramic 3D printing, global specialist in ceramic additive manufacturing, Lithoz, has developed the new LithaBone HA 480. With the goal to make the material more economically viable and the use of 3D printing for bone replacements even more effective, the greatly improved human bone-like ceramic material had a great reception from expert visitors at its world premiere at Formnext, where the distinctly blue complex parts on show were of particular interest.

In medicine, ceramics are considered ideal materials for devices and implants due to their biocompatibility, low thermal conductivity, and lighter intrinsic weight. Most importantly, however, certain ceramics can be resorbed by the body, eliminating the risks connected to second surgeries. The wide range of bone structures in the body necessitate that ceramic materials for bone replacement fully cover this range and are biocompatible and resorbable. The planned interaction of the bone substitute material with adjacent bone and tissues depends on the optimized design of geometries which – accordingly – determines clinical success, as bone regrows along the material’s guide structures and the ceramic dissolves in the body.

Lithoz’s new ceramic bone replacement material LithaBone HA 480 offers several major improvements, including:

• Significantly higher wall thicknesses – a key requirement for versatility reasons. With LithaBone HA 480, previous maximum wall thicknesses of <1.6mm (LithaBone HA 400) have been increased to 10mm, while minimum wall thicknesses required have been reduced even further, significantly broadening the range of applications.
• More precise imaging accuracy of fine structures – in line with the strengths of LCM, one clear goal was to offer a higher level of ultra-precise resolutions and highly complex structures when working with hydroxyapatite. LithaBone HA 480 shows strongly reduced overpolymerization with a simultaneously improved depth of cure, resulting in a simpler selection of build parameters and a significantly more stable manufacturing process.
• Ten-fold longer shelf life – eliminates the obstacle of previous materials’ short shelf life impacting on availability required for urgent surgical interventions.
• Parts are significantly easier to clean, making up valuable time during often vital medical interventions. Experienced users have confirmed significantly faster and easier cleaning processes thanks to an improved binder composition.

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