Method for producing porous device
AssigneeVertera, Inc.
InventorsWei-Hsiang CHANG, Stephen Lee LAFFOON, Christopher S.D. LEE, David Lee SAFRANSKI
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Abstract
A method for making a polymer with a porous layer from a solid piece of polymer is disclosed. In various embodiments, the method includes heating a surface of a solid piece of polymer to a processing temperature below a melting point of the polymer and holding the processing temperature while displacing a porogen layer through the surface of the polymer to create a matrix layer of the solid polymer body comprising the polymer and the porogen layer. In at least one embodiment, the method also includes removing at least a portion of the layer of porogen from the matrix layer to create a porous layer of the solid piece of polymer.
Claims21
A method for forming a solid thermoplastic body with pores distributed through at least a portion of the solid thermoplastic body, the method comprising:
- heating a surface region of a solid piece of thermoplastic to a processing temperature below a melting point of the thermoplastic;
- holding the processing temperature below the melting point of the thermoplastic while displacing the surface region of the thermoplastic through a granular porogen layer to create a matrix region of the solid thermoplastic body comprising the thermoplastic and the granular porogen;
- and
- cooling the matrix region to cease displacement of the granular porogen through the thermoplastic.
A method for forming a solid thermoplastic body with pores distributed through at least a portion of the solid thermoplastic body, the method comprising:
- heating a surface region of a solid piece of thermoplastic to a processing temperature below a melting point of the thermoplastic, wherein the surface region of the solid piece of thermoplastic comprises less than one half of the solid piece of thermoplastic;
- holding the processing temperature below the melting point of the thermoplastic while pressing the surface region of the thermoplastic onto a granular porogen layer thereby causing the granular porogen to displace within the surface region creating a matrix region of the solid thermoplastic body comprising at least a portion of the surface region of the solid piece of thermoplastic and at least a portion of the granular porogen layer;
- and
- cooling the matrix region to cease displacement of the granular porogen through the thermoplastic.
A method for forming a solid thermoplastic body with pores distributed through at least a portion of the solid, the method comprising:
- distributing a porogen layer on a working surface;
- positioning a surface of a solid piece of thermoplastic such that the surface is in contact with at least a portion of the porogen layer;
- heating a surface region of the solid piece of thermoplastic to a processing temperature below a melting point of the thermoplastic, wherein the surface region of the solid piece of thermoplastic comprises less than a third of the solid piece of thermoplastic;
- holding the processing temperature below the melting point of the thermoplastic while compressing the porogen layer between the surface of the solid piece of thermoplastic and the working surface thereby causing the porogen to displace within the surface region of the solid piece of thermoplastic creating a matrix region of the solid thermoplastic body, wherein the matrix region comprises at least a portion of the surface region of the solid piece of thermoplastic and at least a portion of the porogen layer;
- cooling the matrix region to cease displacement of the porogen through the thermoplastic;
- and
- removing at least a portion of the porogen layer from the matrix region to create a porous region of the solid piece of thermoplastic after completion of a preselected period of processing time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.