Method for fabricating a medical implant component and such component
AssigneeHowmedica Osteonics Corp.
InventorsDaniel E. Lawrynowicz, Aiguo Wang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of fabricating a medical implant component. The method may include the steps of producing a substrate from a first material wherein the substrate has a bearing portion, spraying particles of a second material onto the bearing portion in accordance with a predetermined spraying technique to provide a coating thereon, and subjecting the coated bearing portion to a hot isostatic pressing process, a vacuum sintering process, or a controlled atmospheric sintering process. The first material may be the same as or different from the second material. The predetermined spraying technique may be a thermal type spraying process such as a plasma spraying process or a high velocity oxygen fuel spraying process.
Claims28
A method of fabricating a medical implant component, said method comprising the steps of:
- producing a substrate from a first material, said substrate having a bearing portion;
- spraying particles of a second material onto the bearing portion of the substrate in accordance with a predetermined spraying technique to provide a coating thereon;
- and
- subjecting the coated bearing portion to a sintering process in a pressure controlled atmosphere, wherein in the sintering process a first pressure is maintained for a first portion of the sintering process and a second pressure is maintained for a second portion of the sintering process to obtain a predetermined inter-diffusion zone of the first material and the second material, the second pressure exceeding the first pressure and the first portion preceding the second portion in the sintering process,
- wherein, upon completion of the fabrication, the bearing portion is a bearing surface which is operable to articulate with a portion of a member or another medical implant component.
A method of fabricating a medical implant component, said method comprising the steps of:
- producing a substrate from a first material, said substrate having a bearing portion;
- spraying particles of a second material onto the bearing portion of the substrate in accordance with a predetermined spraying technique to provide a coating of the second material thereon having a first thickness;
- grinding the coating of the second material so that the coating has a second thickness which is less than the first thickness;
- and
- subjecting the coating of the second material after the coating has been ground to the second thickness to a sintering process in a pressure controlled atmosphere, wherein in the sintering process a first pressure is maintained for a first portion of the sintering process and a second pressure is maintained for a second portion of the sintering process to obtain a predetermined inter-diffusion zone of the first material and the second material, the second pressure exceeding the first pressure and the first portion preceding the second portion in the sintering process,
- wherein, upon completion of the fabrication, the bearing portion of said substrate having the coating of the second material is operable to articulate with a portion of a member or another medical implant component.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.