Digitally driven optimisation of advanced manufacturing processes for patient-specific bioceramic implants

About the Project

This project is part of cohort 3 of the EPSRC CDT in Developing National Capability for Materials 4.0, with the Henry Royce Institute.

Next-generation devices demand strict component properties. This project, at the digital interface of materials and manufacturing, uses AI and sensorised machinery to optimise formulation, process and post-processing to spec. With Hydra Manufacturing, Holdson, Leeds and Manchester UK, and Royce facilities, it links formulation, manufacture, characterisation, and clinically orientated biomedical applications. A digital twin and AI recommender will deliver high-fidelity, patient-specific implants and design-driven, autonomous optimisation.

Producing next generation functional devices starts with specification led requirements on geometry, hierarchical structure, surface state and performance. In biomedicine, patient specific bone scaffolds must provide osteoconductive porosity, load appropriate stiffness and strength, enable targeted sustained therapeutic delivery and advance toward rigorous safety standards. Meeting these demands requires a shift from recipe-based trial and error to data centric, digitally supervised manufacturing.

This industry supported project sits ideally in Materials 4.0. The exemplar is a ceramic scaffold made by a hybrid AM process. The aim is to make the path from formulation to part measurable, modelled and steerable so devices meet spec first time while allowing integrated local therapy without loss of mechanical integrity.