Suture anchors are fasteners used to join soft tissue to bone in surgeries. Typically these devices are made from machined titanium, which offers corrosion resistance and biocompatibility but is costly. Oxford Performance Materials (OPM), a specialist in producing and manufacturing with polyether ketone ketone (PEKK), is 3D printing suture anchors from this thermoplastic. Using selective laser sintering (SLS), OPM can produce large batches of suture anchors in a variety of sizes simultaneously and at reduced cost compared to conventional titanium. But the PEKK material offers other valuable advantages as well — at least one of which was entirely unexpected.
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Research on the bacteria inhibition properties of PEKK [ Ссылка ]
Another episode highlighting implants made from an unusual material (in this case, bioceramics) [ Ссылка ]
More on 3D printing with PEKK and similar semicrystalline polymers [ Ссылка ]
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