Quantify implant surface finish: hips, knees, stents, dental and moreUnaffected by materials reflectivity. Measure ceramics, metals, polyethylene, PEEK…Characterise surface coatings and wear Industry proven Production Software with barcode scanning and pass/fail reportingFull 3D non contact characterisation in seconds: equivalent of 640 stylus scans!

Innovation with IntegrityOptical Metrology

High throughput measurement of Acetabular Cup surface finish

The tolerances on the implants for surface finish, form, and material composition need to be strictly met. Thus, successful manufacture of hip cups requires rapid and accu-rate inspection. Bruker’s production interface enables simple recipes to be written and executed for each part type. The operator loads the part optionally scanning a barcode, the instrument recognizes the part and makes pre-determined measurements repor-ting, pass fail results (ISO4287 compliant) and prompting for the next batch. Minimal knowledge is required on the part of the end operator who can be locked out of the recipe generation software. For highest throughput, the open stage architecture enables easy multi-part fixturing with the measurement location for each part saved within a recipe.

Bruker 3D Optical Microscopes for Implant Research and Production

for precision surface metrology. The systems deliver the nanometer accuracy to measure highest quality implant finish and also characte-rise surfaces with roughness over 100 microns such as plasma spray coatings. Any of the ISO 25178 and ASTM accepted areal parameters for stan-dardized sample surface evaluation can be captured and data based. Full 3D surface map is typically acquired in less than 10 seconds.

Figure 1: The left side image shows the live video image from the camera. The right side shows the measured surface, as well as input fields for Operator ID, Part Number and Lot Number.

Hip Joint ImplantRoughness Measurement

Knee Joint ImplantScratch & Wear Analysis

Bruker’s Wyko Optical Profilers inspect orthopaedic parts in a fast, accurate, repeatable, and non-destructive manner. Our NPFLEX™ and ContourGT® 3D optical microscopes based on white light interferometry are the most accurate, repeatable, and versatile instruments

Figure 1

Innovation with IntegrityOptical Metrology

Non-destructive measurement of plasma spray coatings

Bruker’s proprietary dual LED illumination now enables extremely rough surfaces to be quantified. Slopes greater than 80 degrees are measured with large field of view. The coating integrity is quan-tified via pore depth, surface volume and contact area measurements. The software can count and quantify particles and voids. Defects are additionally counted and automatically qualified with all results being fully data based. Via masking, the coating thickness is determined. By acquiring a full 3D areal plot, the technique is not subject to the inaccuracies of single stylus scans which are not representative of the full surface.

The combination of long working distance lenses, swivel head lenses and improved illumination now enables qualification of wear on complex implant geometries. Long wear scars are fully characterised using automated image stitching.

Each step in implant polishing can be monitored for quality of surface finish minimising rework and rejects. Any flaws can be pinned to a specific process enabling immediate troubleshooting and accelerating process optimization.

Hips, Knees, Plates, Stents, Screws, Pins, Needles, Dental Implants, Coatings…..

Bruker Wyko 3D Optical Microscopes thus quantify implant surface form and finish throughout the implant manufacturing pro-cess. They can additionally be used to qualify effectiveness of the manufacturing equipment proving the accuracy and reliability of polishing and deposition instruments. In R&D, the development of new products is accelerated via prototype verification, analysis of accelerated mechanical tests and retrieval analysis.

QA/QC Applications: improving yield and identifying failure

Implant wear can result in inflammation that leads to osteolysis (bone destruction), pseudotumors, and even frictional squeaking. Retrieval analysis provides an understanding of failure mechanisms in artificial hip and knee joints. Careful characterization of the wear and wear rate for the materials involved is critical to improving the long term product stability and performance. Bruker’s Vision 64 software provides many approaches to quantifying wear: Measures volume lose due to wear Quantifies wear scars for length, depth, area and volume Determines material loss by measuring changes in radius of curvature

Figure 2: 3D map of plasma spray coated tita-nium implant. Note the surface roughness (Ra or Sa typically reported) is 140 microns.

Figure 3: Wear of PEEK (PolyEtherEtherKetone) sphere used as an

advanced biomaterial in medical implants.

Bruker Nano Surfaces Divisionproductinfo.europe@bruker-nano.comwww.bruker-axs.com