Medical

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For years, the medical device industry has utilized shot peening and surface preparation processes in the manufacture of implants and medical fasteners. As in many other industries, the true benefits of these pneumatic blasting processes are being realized. Many companies are now factoring the benefits of shot peening and abrasive blasting into the design calculation for fatigue life or coating adherence. Progressive's vast experience and process expertise qualifies us to educate and help the medical industry upgrade their equipment capabilities.

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Robotic shot peening of orthopedic bone screws

6-Axis robotic shot peening of orthopedic bone screw threads provides fatigue life improvement. This machine is equipped with Progressive Surface's state-of-the-art process controls for closed loop media flow and air pressure control. Also integrated is a computerized media size and shape classification system and Progressive Surface's ShotMeter shot velocity sensor. All of these devices were integrated into the PRIMS Pro® process monitoring software, making this machine one of the most sophisticated shot peening machines ever built.

Progressive Surface medical application - Robotic shot peening of orthopedic bone screws

Ceramic bead peening of hip replacement components

Progressive Surface designed this automated ceramic bead peening machine for hip implant components to improve fatigue resistance as well as reduce fretting wear. In addition to the high level of process control built into the system, Progressive's tooling design expertise was utilized to manufacture the high production tooling required to mask critical features.

Progressive Surface medical application - Ceramic bead peening of hip replacement components

Abrasive blasting of knee implant forgings

Progressive Surface's continuous rotary abrasive blasting systems have industry-leading productivity and are utilized to aluminum oxide grit blast knee implant components as part of the forging process. These systems provide repeatable material removal and very high production rates.

Progressive Surface medical application - Abrasive blasting of knee implant forgings

Automated spinal rod shot peening

Peening of orthopedic medical implants requires precision and a high level of process control. Coming up with a method to efficiently peen spinal rod implants truly challenged the design team at Progressive. The variety of rod shape and size required an extremely flexible system. The system needed to adapt on the fly for new parts. The cell included two different blast cabinets with two different media types, and two arm robots working in harmony to peen part and hand them to each other for complete peening with no operator intervention.

Progressive Surface medical application - Automated spinal rod shot peening