INJECTION MOULDED FUNCTIONALLY GRADED CERAMICS FOR BIOMEDIACAL APPLICATIONS

Projektinformationen

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: BRE20966

Projekt abgeschlossen

Startdatum 1 September 1994

Enddatum 31 August 1998

Finanziert unter

• Specific programme (EEC) of research and technological development in the field of industrial and materials technologies, 1990-1994

Gesamtkosten

Keine Daten

EU-Beitrag

€ 1 433 755,00

Koordiniert durch

DANISH TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
Denmark

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Verwertbare Ergebnisse

Injection moulding of complex shaped ceramic components for biomedical and technical applications

Bioceramics are increasingly becoming the materials of choice in new medical devices because they offer a number of advantages over currently available materials such as polymers and metals. The typical advantages of zirconia and alumina ceramics are their high strength and excellent wear resistance at elevated temperatures, chemical resistance and biocompatibility. With the advances made in processing ceramic materials by injection moulding, it is possible to produce complex shaped components to net shape/near net shape with physical and mechanical properties comparable to those achieved by the more traditional methods of ceramic processing. 4-point flexural strengths of up to 1051 MPa and density of 6.08g/per cubic centimetre have been measured for injection moulded samples made from a biograde zirconia. Corresponding values for a biograde alumina have been 557MPa with density of 3.95g/per cubic centimetre. The main advantage of using the injection moulding process for ceramic components is the possibility of producing, cost effectively, large numbers of small complex shaped components with reproducible dimensions and properties. Particularly in the case of load bearing applications, biograde zirconias and aluminas have found several important niches in the orthopaedic as well as the orthodontic fields. Examples of these are ceramic femoral heads used in hip joint replacements, knee implants as well as small joint replacement implants (fingers, toes etc). For orthodontic applications ceramics are used extensively in dental pins and crowns. Potential new areas of application are in surgical instrumentation, typically for arthroscopic (minimum invasive) surgery where non-metallic surgical instrumentation would be an advantage. Other areas to consider are miniature motors where the high temperature wear resistance, strength and low thermal conductivity of these ceramics would play an important role.