Incremental sheet forming towards biomedical implants: a review

Advanced manufacture technologies, oriented to implants featured with high reliability, low cost and high biocompatibility, are key approaches to advance the rehabilitation efficacy and shorten the recovery period of patients. Considering the shortage of current fabrication processes, the incremental sheet forming (ISF) which is featured as a flexible forming technique is applied to manufacture implants. This review begins with the overview of ISF for different kinds of materials and implants. Then, the forming quality of implants formed by ISF was comprehensively reviewed and discussed in various aspects including the geometric accuracy, surface quality, and the forming limit. Moreover, various micro manufacturing processes and the size effect were summarized for the purpose of surface modification of medical implants. Based on the investigation of micro manufacture techniques, a novel macro-micro hybrid ISF technique was proposed to form the macro-profile and the micro-structures of implants synergistically through a single manufacturing process with different scales. Finally, future scope and potential research directions were addressed. (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.