“iMPLANTS-CM: printing of metamaterials with shape memory alloys and functional gradients of properties for a new generation of intelligent implants”
Synergy Project from the Regional Government of Madrid (Ref. Y2020/BIO-6756)
PI: Andrés Díaz Lantada, Mechanical Engineering Dpt., Universidad Politecnica de Madrid
Co-PI: Jon Mikel Molina Aldareguia, IMDEA Materials Institute
Funding: Research and Innovation Directorate, Regional Government of Madrid.
Region: Madrid.
Period: 2021 – 2024.
Principal researchers: Jon Mikel Molina Aldareguia (jon.molina@imdea.org) and Andrés Díaz Lantada (andres.diaz@upm.es).
Partners: IMDEA Materials Institute and Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (coordinating partners).
Introduction
Researchers from Universidad Politecnica de Madrid and IMDEA Materials Institute jointly develop “iMPLANTS-CM: printing of metamaterials with shape memory alloys and functional gradients of properties for a new generation of intelligent implants”. This R&D project is funded by the 2020 “Synergy Call” from the Regional Government of Madrid, through a highly competitive program (18 projects selected out of more than 200 proposals) inspired in the Synergy Grant model of the European Research Council.
iMPLANTS-CM, pursues, as main objective, the development of a new generation of intelligent implants, which will be implanted through minimally invasive procedures and will be able to evolve geometrically with the patients, shifting their shapes, according to the healing, growth and ageing processes. To this end, it is necessary to investigate and develop principles and techniques for the design and additive manufacturing of metamaterials, using shape memory alloys as raw materials and employing functional gradients, whose innovative structures, biomechanical properties and metamorphic abilities will enable novel interactions with patients.
The advances of iMPLANTS-CM will be illustrated with case studies from the cardiovascular realm, by means of designs, prototyping and validation trials of real implants, including: unconventional stents for the personalized treatment of complex aneurysms in arterial bifurcations, minimally invasive artificial heart valves and annuloplasty rings with shape morphing capabilities, and micro-biobots for controlled and teleoperated surgical interventions within the human body.
Objectives
iMPLANTS-CM tackles the following main objectives:
- OBJ.1. Research the field of biomechanical metamaterials, ideate and design a unique collection of lattices and unit cells, as building blocks, for enabling new shape-morphing principles in 4D printing.
- OBJ.2. Develop the additive manufacturing of shape-memory alloys with functional gradients and investigate their knowledge-based processability to achieve smart structures with multiple active regions.
- OBJ.3. Synergically integrate metamaterials designs and shape-memory alloys (with shape-morphing and superelastic properties) to achieve novel biocompatible components capable of experiencing multiple controlled metamorphoses.
- OBJ.4. Apply the R&D advances to the creation of smart biomechanical metamaterials and structures in high-performance materials with metamorphic properties, towards future biomedical applications.
- OBJ.5. Develop and validate a methodology for the personalized design and production of smart implants, as an alternative to current methods for the fabrication of nitinol- and smart alloy-based implants.
- OBJ.6. Conceive, design and validate, through functional prototypes and in vitro experiments, a new generation of smart implants based on the investigated materials, geometries and processes.
- OBJ.7. Establish a long-term alliance between UPM and IMDEA Materials Institute in the field of biomedical additive manufacturing, led by two remarkable young researchers with complementary knowledge and experiences.