Bio-materials and prototyping (both virtual and physical) is becoming more and more prevalent in medicine. These materials and technologies are used to design, develop and manufacture medical devices and instrumentation, and to fabricate drug dosage forms. This process is also increasingly being used by surgeons to plan complex operations, especially in the craniofacial and maxillofacial areas. Further, prototyping shows promise in the area of tissue engineering through the use of biomaterials including the direct manufacture of biologically active implants. This book focuses on bio materials and prototyping applications in medical environments. The applications that are discussed integrate bio-materials, CAD, and physical prototyping techniques.

Summarizes state-of-the-art research in prototyping of bio-materials for medical applications

Provides a wide variety of examples of medical applications using rapid prototyping, including tissue engineering, dental applications, and bone replacement

Addresses the issues involved with using solid freeform fabrication/rapid prototyping/layered manufacturing that is becoming very important in the biomaterials area

Discusses the emergence of computer aided design in the development of prosthetic devices