Sub-project: Innovative coatings for 3D-printed parts
The surfaces of medical and medical technology products must meet a wide variety of demanding requirements, such as biocompatibility and sterilisability. Special coatings can be used to functionally modify surfaces so that they meet these requirements.
Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a modern coating process that is particularly suitable for medical technology products and applications. One advantage, for example, is that complex geometries can be coated. Although coatings with ALD comprise only a few atomic layers, they are very homogeneous and stable.
In this sub-project, HFU is investigating the principal possibilities for surface modification of 3D-printed medical products (endoscope attachments) with complex geometry and miniaturised dimensions. The greatest challenge here is that 3D-printed materials tend to be porous due to the manufacturing process, so that outgassing can occur during the coating process in a vacuum.
