The total height of a drainage nail used in glaucoma surgery is only 2.5 mm, and the diameter of the spring is only 20 μm (micrometer). What is the concept of this precision?
To make a simple conversion, the diameter of an adult hair is between 50-60 μm, while the spring used in the "eye thorn" is only equivalent to 1/3 of the thickness of a hair. When medical devices are so tiny that they can only be seen under a microscope, ultra-precise 3D printing comes into play.
When 3D printing technology enters the industry from the laboratory and shines in the fields of dental applications, cell culture, drug delivery, aerospace and other fields, the higher requirements for precision have become one of the development directions of this technology. Also taking the drainage nail as an example, when using 50μm, 30μm and 10μm 3D printers to manufacture this "thorn in the eye", the higher the accuracy, the better the quality and smoothness of the drainage nail.
After the accuracy continues to improve, what surprises will 3D printing technology bring us in the medical field?
out of no man's land
In the past 40 years, 3D printing technology has been used in many medical fields.
In 2015, the FDA approved the listing of the first 3D printed antiepileptic drug "Levetiracetam Instant Tablets". In 2016, Harvard University used 3D printing technology to manufacture the proximal tubules of the human kidney. In 2019, Israeli scientists used 3D technology to manufacture The world's first "artificial heart".
picture
Not only limited to the laboratory, 3D printing and industry have also been more closely integrated in recent years.
At the recent BMF · 2023 Innovation Power Forum co-organized by BMF, Lianjie Innovation and Lianjie Qichen Capital, Lu Junhui, director of the terminal business department of BMF, introduced that the 3D printing market has been undergoing a transformation from scientific research in recent years. The market is gradually moving towards an iterative process of industrial R&D. The next step should be to break through technical limitations and realize mass production of end products. Judging from the application of MMF's own products, the two fields with the fastest progress in domestic application are dental veneers and bioreactors.
Dental veneer is a technology of tooth whitening and restoration, which is equivalent to pasting a layer of material similar to normal tooth color on the surface of discolored or defective teeth to achieve the effect of whitening or repairing. Xing Yuxiang, marketing director of Mofang Precision, told the "China Times" reporter that the thickness of the tooth veneer material produced by traditional techniques is at least 400 μm, and it is not good for users to use it directly on the teeth. Therefore, it is necessary to grind the teeth of the user first. This procedure may affect the tooth nerve. The use of 3D high-precision printing technology can control the thickness of dental veneers to about 60 μm, which is similar to the thickness of a strand of hair, so as to realize tooth grinding and reduce the pain of patients and the difficulty of operation for doctors.
Compared with the distance between dentistry and the general public, bioreactors are not common in daily life, and are mainly used in the in vitro culture of human tissues, which is the organoid culture often mentioned by professionals. Lu Junhui mentioned that the emergence of ultra-precision 3D printing technology is prompting the industry to break through the original product design and production thinking.
For example, a targeted drug foundry in Japan has introduced the 3D printing system of Mofang Precision for the production of cell culture scaffolds and microneedles for the delivery of tumor drugs. 3D printing has advantages that traditional processes are not good at when manufacturing internal structures, very small flow channels or dense hole arrays, and extremely thin walls.
When medical devices are being explored in the direction of higher precision, there are more options in terms of materials and performance. The integration of advanced technology and industry also provides a new footnote for the word innovation.
The thorns and flowers of the rooted industry
On the road to the subsequent development of 3D technology, what are the internal and external factors that restrict it from taking root in the industry?
According to different materials, 3D technology can be simply divided into two schools: the metal printing route and the non-metal printing route. At present, domestic listed 3D technology companies BLT and Farsoon Hi-Tech all follow the metal 3D printing route. Fang Precision is the first non-metal printing 3D technology company preparing to hit the IPO. Lu Junhui said that from a technical point of view, after a company’s equipment, systems, and services are mature, the internal constraint level is ultimately a matter of materials. At present, MPF has made great efforts to transition from resin to ceramics, because ceramics are very promising. end market.
When talking about limiting the application of 3D printing technology in the industry, both practitioners and industry investors said that the industry's understanding and acceptance of this technology is the most important influencing factor.
"Taking our company's customers as an example, most of the domestic purchasers of MMF precision 3D printing equipment are university research laboratories for cutting-edge research, while foreign companies have both large and small companies, and even a large number of small and medium-sized companies", Xing Yu Xiang said. In its view, this difference in usage does not depend solely on price, but that the market's long-term trust in 3D printing technology has not yet been developed.
When the application in the industry has not yet reached the level of proficiency, what are the market opportunities for 3D printing?
Nowadays, many device parts are becoming more and more miniaturized, and it is difficult to achieve mold opening and injection molding with traditional techniques. This is precisely the opportunity left for 3D printing technology.
In addition, with the rise of domestic brands in the medical device market, the degree of domestic substitution is deepening, and the reshuffle period is coming, and 3D printing may play an important role in it.
