Case Study: Renishaw achieves streamlined additive manufacturing of spinal implants with nTopology

IMR & Renishaw Streamline the Additive Manufacturing of Spinal Implants

Renishaw, working with Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR), faced the challenge of developing an additively manufactured anterior cervical interbody device (ACID) with a porous lattice that promotes osseointegration and matches the mechanical properties of bone. To meet tight clinical and manufacturing requirements they used nTopology’s generative design and lattice-optimization software to rapidly explore spatially varying lattice parameters and control key design variables across the implant volume.

nTopology enabled the team to iterate seven concepts quickly, slice designs directly, and export native build files for Renishaw’s RenAM 500M, reducing design time from hours to minutes and shrinking output files from ~300 MB meshes to ~15 MB. Using nTopology’s tools sped project completion from years to months, helped meet relevant standards (ISO 13314, ASTM 1104, ASTM 1147), and de‑risked development by automating reusable design processes for Ti 6Al-4V ELI spinal implants.

Renishaw

Kevin Brigden

Additive Manufacturing Applications Engineer