Partnership
Challenge
- Metal additive manufacturing (AM) can create customized components with lightweight materials and complex geometries not achievable with traditional manufacturing (e.g. CNC machining).
- However, AM limitations can include poor surface finish, geometric distortion and suboptimal mechanical properties.
Solution
- Researchers investigated commercially-viable hybrid manufacturing workflows to use CNC machining to refine features of AM components to meet precise requirements.
- A prototype was developed for an intraoperative measurement tool for hip replacement surgery.

Impact
- Demands for customized high-value, low-volume components in fields such as medical and aerospace are necessitating novel manufacturing methods.
- The results have lead to future work to refine AM design and CNC programing for hybrid manufacturing workflows.
- The project represents a successful collaboration in the advanced manufacturing sector between MSAM, an Ontario SME (Intellijoint Surgical) and a MNE (Renishaw).
- This project was featured at the COU Policy Discussion Series on Advanced Manufacturing.