Current Pulse

Minimally Invasive Alternative to Open Surgery
Cook Medical officials have launched a suite of salivary duct access products that offer minimally invasive options for the treatment of obstructive salivary gland disease. Minimally invasive treatment of obstructive salivary gland disease can reduce the need for invasive open surgery.

The devices in the product line include a soft-tip wire guide, a serial dilator set, the Kolenda Salivary Access Introducer Set, and the NGage and NCircle salivary stone extractors. The salivary duct access products are among the new minimally invasive devices that Cook Medical has launched as part of its new Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS) clinical division.

Cook Medical’s new salivary duct access tools create a working channel through which physicians can treat obstructive salivary gland disease. Use of the soft-tip wire guide is to access the salivary duct through the duct opening and maintain ductal access throughout the procedure. Flexible serial dilators are introduced over the wire to expand the opening and prepare the salivary duct for the introduction of procedural instruments. The Kolenda introducer sheath is passed over the wire to create an open working channel into the salivary duct. The sheath serves to protect the ductal wall and to allow for easy insertion and removal of the procedural instruments. The stone extractors, including the NGage and the NCircle, have baskets that are made of Nitinol memory wire, which allows the baskets to retain their shape following torsion. The baskets are used to manipulate and remove salivary stones. www.cookmedical.com

Stem Cell Research
Recently completed precision 3D printed parts are helping support Boston University (BU) researchers in their stem cell research. Stem cells, which have enormous potential in medical research because of their ability to differentiate into specialized cells types, may one day provide a renewable source of replacement cells for people that require organ transplants or are suffering from ailments such as Parkinson’s disease, Type I diabetes, and Cardiovascular disease.

According to BU researchers, understanding and controlling stem cell differentiation in vitro is proving to be a major challenge, and a more controlled cell microenvironment is needed to elucidate the important factors that influence cell behavior systematically. Utilizing a high-resolution 3D printer, Potomac Photonics fabricated precision stencils to pattern seeded stem cells such that cells are grown in a defined arrangement relative to each other. By preparing various stencils, the BU researchers hope to determine how the relative positions of stem cells affect their differentiation efficiency and differentiated progeny.

This work, which was performed within Potomac Photonics’ Educational Manufacturing Initiative, demonstrated another novel way that 3D printing and advanced micromanufacturing technologies are spearheading the development of innovative new applications and products. www.potomac-laser.com

Technology Center for Testing, Simulating
Blaser Swisslube has created optimum conditions for simulating and testing the latest machining technologies in its Technology Center. The setup is enabling Blaser engineers to provide customers with even better levels of support, and to help them improve their productivity and economic efficiency, as well as to optimize the quality of their machining operations. At the facility, the latest materials are tested with various metalworking fluids, after which the processes, as well as the cutting and grinding fluids, can be optimized and developed yet further.

A recent example was testing for an increase in tool life when machining a titanium component. Through use of the optimum metalworking fluid, it was possible to improve the tool life by more than 30% in series production, compared to a conventional metalworking fluid.

The test project involved milling two identical titanium components with all the same parameters except for what type of metalworking fluid was used.

Conventional metalworking fluid proved it possible to manufacture one-and-a-half titanium components before tool wear made it necessary to stop production. The solid carbide-milling tool had been subjected to extreme stress loadings and clear signs of breakage down its cutting edges were visible, alongside the normal signs of wear. With a new high-performance metalworking fluid specifically designed for the machining of titanium, it was possible to manufacture two complete workpieces without reaching the previously defined tool life criterion (wear of 0.008"). www.blaser.com

Kennametal Launches Free iPad App
Kennametal, a Partners in THINC member, now offers a free iPad App – Kennametal Innovations. The App features interactive animations of Kennametal’s productivity-enhancing technologies for CNC machining and industrial processes. Available at the iTunes App Store, it brings to life some of Kennametal’s latest metalworking tooling technologies for turning, drilling, indexable milling, solid end milling, and tooling systems.

Key features of the App:

• Product animations provide clear visual representations of CNC machining processes with direct links to detailed information;
• A navigation map offers drop-down menus with supplemental informa- tion, including expandable and customizable charts and graphs;
• User-driven navigation with select- able data provides quick, conve- nient comparisons to complemen- tary and competitive products; and
• Animated demonstrations provide valuable, real-world experience of the tooling technologies in actual use. http://bit.ly/16hvZxO

PEEK-OPTIMA Reaches 500 Cleared, Manufactured Devices
Invibio Biomaterial Solutions’ innovative PEEK-OPTIMA family of biomaterials – including the world’s first implantable grade polyetherketone (PEEK) polymer – has achieved considerable regional regulatory milestones, particularly significant in the current regulatory climate. As of February 2013, the number of implantable medical devices manufactured from PEEK-OPTIMA and cleared for market in the United States has reached 500.

The steady rise in the medical device industry’s use of PEEK-OPTIMA in spine as well as other applications is mirrored elsewhere around the globe as well with PEEK-OPTIMA based implantable medical devices approved in all the BRIC emerging markets www.invibio.com

High Productivity, High-Quality Dental End Parts
With the additive manufacturing technology, laboratories and manufacturing service providers can produce high-quality dental crowns and bridges, plastic dental models, and removable partial dentures in a highly productive way and at attractive costs per part. A further stage in the process has been digitized with optical impressions. In the future, more and more dental technicians will simply pick up a computer mouse instead of a wax knife and use an intraoral scanner instead of an impression tray – saving time and making work processes more efficient.

With the EOS systems, up to 450 dental crowns and bridges can be cost-efficiently manufactured in 24 hours. This corresponds to an average building time of around three minutes per unit. The final product is characterized by a homogeneous metallic structure with high precision and constant tolerances, enabling a good fitting and reproducible properties.

Following the manufacturing process, the dental prosthesis only has to be separated from the platform and a dental technician subsequently further finishes it. The DMLS system can run up to two production cycles per day and can manufacture up to 80,000 units per year.

As for the manufacturing of dental restorations, 3D data are already available – custom-fit dental models can be produced on the plastic laser-sintering systems FORMIGA P 110, which then serve as the basis for the further processing and veneering of the restorations by the dental technician. Forty to 70 complete jaw models can be manufactured within 14 hours (excluding cooling time) depending on the design, size, and part height. The high production capacity is a result of the multiple layer manufacturing. The individual parts are not connected by support elements, fixed only by the surrounding, non-fused powder. Because of this support-free method of production, no manual finishing is necessary, apart from a brief blasting. www.eos.info