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US 9,414,924 B2Granted
Ceramic layered medical implant
AssigneeSmith & Nephew, Inc.
InventorsVivek Devidas Pawar, Shilesh C. Jani, Carolyn L. Weaver
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Abstract
A new composition and medical implant made there from comprises a thick diffusion hardened zone, and layered ceramic surface. Orthopedic implants comprising the new composition, methods of making the new composition, and methods of making orthopedic implants comprising the new composition are disclosed.
Claims18
A method of making a layered ceramic medical implant comprising the steps of:
- forming said medical implant of zirconium or zirconium alloy;
- and
- forming a multi-layered diffusion hardened zone in said medical implant beneath a multi-layered ceramic coating, said multi-layered ceramic coating including at least a first ceramic layer and a second ceramic layer, the first ceramic layer having a composition that is different than the second ceramic layer, said step of forming said multi-layered diffusion hardened zone and said multi-layered ceramic coating including:
- treating said medical implant in the presence of one or more ceramic-forming species at temperature of 500 to 1000° C. for greater than 2 minutes, and
- thereafter treating said medical implant under a reactive gas at a temperature of 500 to 700° C. to diffuse at least a portion of the one or more ceramic-forming species into the zirconium or zirconium alloy, the reactive gas being different than the one or more ceramic-forming species.
2 more elements
A method of making a layered ceramic medical implant comprising the steps of:
- forming said medical implant of zirconium or zirconium alloy;
- treating said implant in the presence of ceramic-forming species at temperature of 500 to 1000° C. for greater than 2 minutes;
- and, thereafter treating said implant under a reactive gas at a temperature of 500 to 1000° C.;
- and
- oxidizing a Zirconium-2.5 wt % niobium alloy sample in a convection furnace in air at 635° C. for 110 minutes, placing the sample in a vacuum furnace and controlling the partial pressure of nitrogen, pumping the pressure of the furnace under 10−4 Torr, heating the sample to 685° C. in approximately 1 hour, introducing high purity nitrogen gas and maintaining the partial pressure between 400 to 500 mTorr, maintaining the sample under an atmosphere of nitrogen at a temperature of 685° C. for 7.5 hours, cooling the sample to room temperature under nitrogen atmosphere in 30 minutes;
- and sectioning the sample and evaluating the sample using metallographic techniques.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.