A multi-material virtual prototyping system for biomedical applications

Abstract

This paper describes a multi-material virtual prototyping (MMVP) system for modelling and digital fabrication of discrete and functionally graded multi-material objects for biomedical applications. The MMVP system consists of a DMMVP module, an FGMVP module, and a virtual reality (VR) simulation module. The DMMVP module is used for design and process planning of discrete multi-material (DMM) objects, while the FGMVP module is for functionally graded multimaterial (FGM) objects. The VR simulation module integrates these two modules to perform digital fabrication of multimaterial objects, which can be subsequently visualized and analyzed in a virtual environment to optimize MMLM processes for fabrication of product prototypes. Using the MMVP system, two biomedical objects, including a human dextrocardic heart made of discrete multi-materials and a hip joint assembly of FGM are modelled and digitally fabricated for visualization and analysis in a VR environment. These studies show the MMVP system is a practical tool for modelling, visualization, process planning, and subsequent fabrication of biomedical objects of discrete and functionally graded multi-materials for biomedical applications. ©2009 IEEE.published_or_final_versionThe IEEE International Conference on Virtual Environments, Human-Computer Interfaces and Measurements Systems (VECIMS) 2009, Hong Kong, 11-13 May 2009. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Virtual Environments, Human-Computer Interfaces and Measurements Systems, 2009, p. 73-7