Towards the Development of Low-Cost Vacuum Setup for Customized Implant Manufacturing

Abstract

This study introduces a new vacuum casting setup used to cast customized implants. Setup is equipped with the induction furnace, vacuum pump, top vacuum chamber, thermocouple probe and bottom mold chamber along with Pirani gauge and vacuumized sealed doors and valves mounted. Experiments were conducted with aluminum alloy to investigate the accuracy of the setup. Implant fabrication is carried out with the aid of machining process which is difficult to machine, if the shape is intricate. Casting is one of the best routes to cast the complex geometry with the application of rapid prototyping technology. The proposed setup in this paper for the casting of aluminum under vacuum was designed and developed in-house, equipment opted and setup design after thermodynamic calculation for a vacuum chamber and minimizes required vacuum level for melting of Al. Melting is by induction furnace, metal is directly poured with the help of bottom pouring crucible mechanism mold prepared by zircon sand, and the pattern used for mold making is made on rapid prototype machine having acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) material. A promising new technique for direct melting and pouring of titanium alloy for medical implants was emerged from this study. This research demonstrated the feasibility of direct melting and casting of the aluminum alloy by vacuum technology.