Method for ceramic peening of orthopaedic titanium alloy implants
AssigneeSmith & Nephew, Inc.
InventorsNeil B. Beals, Willard L. Sauer
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Abstract
A method of preparing fretting wear resistant titaniumbase alloy orthopaedic implants includes the steps of shot peening the surface of the implant with spherical ceramic beads of a selected size and density, and with selected intensity such that the fretting wear resistance of the implant is increased and wherein the implant surface is uniformly peened to create a compressively-stressed region within the surface of approximately 100-300 microns depth.
Claims29
A method of preparing fretting wear resistant titanium alloy orthopaedic implants, comprising the steps of:
- a) shot peening the surface of the titanium alloy implant with ceramic beads of a selected shot size, shape, and with selected intensity and coverage uniformity so that the fretting wear resistance of the implant is increased;
- and
- b) wherein the implant surface area is peened such that a compressively-stressed region of approximately one hundred to three hundred (100-300) microns in depth is achieved.
A method of preparing a controlled surface roughness of titanium orthopaedic implants, comprising the steps of:
- a) shot peening the surface of the implant with generally selected spherically shaped ceramic shot of a size, density, and selected Almen intensity so that the fretting wear resistance of the implant surface area is increased.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.