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US 7,252,684 B2Granted
Ceramic in replacement components
AssigneeSouthwest Research Institute
InventorGeoffrey Dearnaley
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for a prosthesis. At least a portion of the prosthesis is made from a ceramic that is treated with ion implantation, which causes a controllable, bilateral compressive stress of the ceramic. A diamond-like-coating (DLC) can be coated on the ceramic and in the same chamber as the ion implantation. After treating by ion implantation and coating with DLC, the ceramic will be strengthened and have a low coefficient of friction and thereby be made much less likely to fracture under load.
Claims20
A prosthesis, comprising:
- a prosthetic joint comprising a ball portion and a cup portion said ball portion having an outer load bearing surface configured to engage with a load bearing surface within said cup portion;
- a ceramic treated with ion implantation, wherein said ion implanted ceramic is characterized as having a compressive stress in said surface due to said ion implantation wherein said ion-implanted ceramic with said compressive stress is not amorphous, wherein said ion implanted ceramic is said load bearing surface on at least one of said ball portion and said cup portion of said prosthetic joint;
- and
- a diamond-like coating on the ceramic load bearing surface, said diamond-like coating comprising an amorphous and cross-linked carbon network and wherein said diamond-like coating includes inter-atomic bonds between said ceramic and said diamond like coating.
1 more element
A prosthesis, comprising:
- a prosthetic joint comprising a ball portion and a cup portion said ball portion having an outer load bearing surface configured to engage with a load bearing surface within said cup potion;
- a ceramic treated with ion implantation, wherein said ion implanted ceramic is characterized as having a compressive stress in said surface due to said ion implantation wherein said ion-implanted ceramic with said compressive stress is not amorphous, wherein said ion implanted ceramic is said load bearing surface on at least one of said ball portion and said cup portion of said prosthetic joint.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.