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US 12,629,449 B2Granted
Orthopedic implants with increased hardness and increased depth of hardness and method of making
AssigneeWaldemar Link GmbH & Co. KG
InventorsHelmut D. Link, Richard Csaszar
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A prosthesis or implant device for use in joint or bone repair, or restoration of function, with improved surface hardness and depth of hardness and a process comprising treating a biocompatible alloy such that hardness and depth of hardness is improved.
Claims16
A process for making an orthopedic implant from cobalt chromium molybdenum alloy, comprising:
- exposing a surface of the implant to pulse plasma nitriding for 10 to 20 hours at approximately 600 degrees Celsius;
- and
- subsequently coating the implant with a hard material layer using Arc-PVD to form a coated implant, wherein the coating is applied to a thickness of 4.5 μm plus or minus 1.5 μm, and wherein the coated implant has a surface hardness of between 550 and 1300 HV0.1.
A process for making an orthopedic implant from alpha-beta titanium alloy, comprising:
- exposing a surface of the implant to pulse plasma nitriding for 10 to 48 hours at approximately 730 to 750 degrees Celsius;
- and
- subsequently coating the implant with a hard material layer using Arc-PVD to form a coated implant, wherein the coating is applied to a thickness of 4.5 μm plus or minus 1.5 μm, and wherein the coated implant has a surface hardness of between 200 HV0.1 and 1000 HV0.05.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.