UrFU Alumus Creates First Russian 3D Printer For Plastic Implants and Medical Prostheses

15:30, March 11, 2021

New invention has potential to enter Chinese and Russian markets

UrFU alumnus, 24-year-old Evgeny Volokhin, was the first in Russia to come up with a 3D printer capable of printing products made from high-temperature plastics. Evgeny plans to manufacture implants and medical prostheses from polyether ketone (a polymer widely used in various industries). He created a test model for 500,000 rubles, which he received as a grant. The cost of creating a full-fledged 3D printer based on this model is about five million rubles.

In a conversation with a regional journalist (www.66.ru), he added that this machine has "unusual mechanics": it works on special magnets, and the working chamber is completely isolated, unlike similar foreign 3D printers.

The manufacture of a prosthesis will depend on the height, weight and other individual parameters of a particular person. The estimated average cost is 4000 rubles. The Russian company "Novator" (one of the leading Russian design bureaus, created in 1947 as a subdivision of the Kalinin Machine-Building Plant) and the company "Newgenico", which operates in both the Russian and Chinese markets, have already become interested in the invention. Now its leadership is looking for a sponsor for Evgeny Volokhin in China. In order to finalize the invention and enter the foreign market, according to their calculations, it will take up to a million dollars.

Such a 3D printer can be used not only in the field of medicine, but also in mechanical engineering and the aviation industry, since it can print with any engineering plastics. The key advantages of high-temperature plastic products are strength and durability against environmental influences.

This material is a translation from a 66.ru news piece.