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Surgical prototypes a cut above the rest
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30/05/2008
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Prototypes and medical models can be made by ink jetting two different materials at the same time
New ink-jet printing techniques mean internal organs can now be seen and studied, prior to attempting surgery.
By ink jet printing two entirely different polymers, combinations of hard and soft material, or grey-scale colours, can be laid down in such a way as to produce remarkable rapid prototypes and realistic medical models
The technique – dubbed PolyJet Matrix technology - has been developed by Objet Geometries, headquartered in Israel, with several machines already sold worldwide, according to region manager Haim Levy.
Eureka first came across one of the machines at SolidWorks World, printing a component that was part hard plastic and part elastomer. But it was not until the recent Hanover Fair that we were able to see some of the impressive results up close.
A longer version of this article appears in the June issue of Eureka.
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Author
Tom Shelley
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