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Titanium is the perfect metal to make replacement human body parts

Titanium material is expensive and can be problematic when it comes to traditional processing technologies. For example, its high melting point (1,670℃, much higher than steel alloys) is a challenge.

The relatively low-cost precision of 3D printing is therefore a game-changer for titanium. 3D printing is where an object is built layer by layer and designers can create amazing shapes.

This allows the production of complex shapes such as replacement parts of a jaw bone, heel, hip, dental implants, or cranioplasty plates in surgery. It can also be used to make golf clubs and aircraft components.

The CSIRO is working with industry to develop new technologies in 3D printing using titanium. (It even made a dragon out of titanium.)

Advances in 3D printing are opening up new avenues to further improve the function of customised bodypart implants made of titanium.

Such implants can be designed to be porous, making them lighter but allowing blood, nutrients and nerves to pass through and can even promote bone in-growth.