Artificial hip joints: Applying weapons expertise to medical technology

Journal Article · Sat Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · Energy and Technology Review

OSTI ID:56787

Materials scientists at Smith and Nephew Richards, a firm that makes artificial hip joints, decided that a femoral head made of zirconium, which can be oxidized to acquire a surface layer of zirconia, a ceramic, would combine the lower production costs of metal heads with the much greater longevity of ceramic heads. Smith and Nephew Richards machinists, however, encountered difficulties in grinding zirconium heads to the needed size, contour, and smoothness. Because of LLNL`s expertise in precision engineering, Smith and Nephew Richards` and the Lab signed a research agreement under the National Machine Tool Partnership to help them solve their problem. We soon established that the preferred technique for use with zirconium was not grinding, but single-point turning. We thus had an opportunity to turn decades of experience acquired through weapons work to advances in medical technology. Identifying an appropriate turning machine that the Lab and Smith and Nephew Richards both have, we turned some pieces on it to their criteria. We delivered to Smith and Nephew Richards a turnkey package: a custom workpiece holder for high-precision single-point turning and the software for operating the compensated tool path. During the course of this work, Smith and Nephew Richards and the Laboratory discovered that the Lab`s inspection capabilities for measuring the size, contour, and smoothness of the femoral heads was more precise than theirs, and so we undertook and completed a secondary task of helping establish the exact limits of their fabricating and inspection equipment.

• OSTI ID: 56787
• Journal Information: Energy and Technology Review, Journal Name: Energy and Technology Review; ISSN 0884-5050; ISSN ETRED7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

55 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
BASIC STUDIES
ARTIFICIAL ORGANS
BONE JOINTS
FABRICATION
FEMUR
MACHINE TOOLS
MACHINING
MANUFACTURING
MEDICAL SUPPLIES
MEDICINE
ZIRCONIUM