Manufacturing methods for medical artificial prostheses– a review

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to review the manufacturing methods that can be used for fabricating medical prostheses. The medical prostheses have different functions and applications. Selection of manufacturing method is made based on the material, design, and mechanical properties of the prostheses.  The conventional manufacturing methods that had been applied for manufacturing prostheses are machining, incremental sheet forming and investment casting. The combination of computer numerical control and additive manufacturing has been able to improve the process efficiency of these methods. However, direct fabrication by additive manufacturing has been able to replace the conventional method with better process efficiency and product accuracy.