Metal injection moulding of thin-walled titanium parts for medical applications

Abstract

Metal injection moulding (MIM) is an established technique for serial production of complex, mostly stainless steel parts. However, for other materials, especially for titanium parts, there is still the need for superior purity and enhanced surface quality. This paper describes recent advances at Fraunhofer IFAM to address the challenge of producing fit-for-purpose titanium MIM medical parts. Investigations have shown the effect of using very fine powders and mould surface finish: with polished moulds a very lowsurface roughness, <0.8 m, was obtainable on the sintered part. Chemical and mechanical properties of the sintered parts are determined by complex interactions between sintering conditions, purity, particle size and binder components. Tests on the feasibility of moulding high aspect ratios, wall thicknesses <200 m and special features such as a fine internal threads and hexagon headset structures are also reported

Design of Reliable Remobilisation Finger Implants with Geometry Elements of a Triple Periodic Minimal Surface Structure via Additive Manufacturing of Silicon Nitride

“…Titanium alloys are very often used for biomedical applications, especially for endoprostheses. In addition to classical manufacturing processes such as forging or casting, for example for hip implants, powder-based manufacturing technologies such as metal powder injection moulding have now also found applications in biomedicine [19]. In addition to the biocompatibility of the material, the biomechanical adaptation of the mechanical properties to the human bone is an essential criterion for implant design and material selection [20].…”

Metal injection moulding of titanium and titanium alloys: Challenges and recent development

“…[18,24,45,[52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69] Prevention of carbon contamination is much easier to achieve than it is for oxygen by using a flow of high purity argon cover gas during the debinding process. It is necessary to limit the carbon content to less than 0.08wt% in order to avoid titanium carbide formation within the structure [70].…”