Development of a novel binder system for manufacture of ceramic heart valve prostheses

Heart valve prostheses have become common since their introduction in the 1960s. Although prostheses work well in situ at the physiological site they are not designed for other applications such as conduits. Research at Nottingham Trent University has led to the design of a conduit valve prosthesis...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of materials processing technology 2001-02, Vol.109 (1), p.161-167
Main Authors: Ridgway, J.S, Hull, J.B, Gentle, C.R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Binder
Biocompatibility
Ceramic materials
Cyanoacrylate
Heart valve
Hemodynamics
Methyl methacrylate
Moulding
Polymethyl methacrylates
Polytetrafluoroethylenes
Porous materials
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Summary:Heart valve prostheses have become common since their introduction in the 1960s. Although prostheses work well in situ at the physiological site they are not designed for other applications such as conduits. Research at Nottingham Trent University has led to the design of a conduit valve prosthesis to allow for correct arterial and valvular flow. Requirements are to have a porous internal structure to incur tissue in-growth, improve heamodynamic performance and longevity of the prosthesis. Powder reaction moulding technology has been implemented to create such a prosthesis from medical grade aluminium oxide. Methyl methacrylate and cyanoacrylates were investigated as binders with aluminium oxide as the powder constituent. The production of samples with a small L/D ratio and analysis of reaction kinetics provided valuable evidence to support the role of these binders. It was found that methyl methacrylate can only mix to a powder volume fraction of 0.33, whilst cyanoacrylate can bind with alumina to a higher volume fraction of 0.45. With cyanoacrylate binding the largest fraction, samples were moulded from cyanoacrylate/alumina utilising a hand extrusion unit. The mould design represented the conduit heart valve and was manufactured from polytetraflouroethylene (PTFE). Investigation of the moulded bodies leads to two observations. Firstly, cyanoacrylate requires a surface initiation to polymerise within a mould cavity and secondly, mould release agents are needed to extract the part. Preliminary investigation into thermal de-binding of cyanoacrylate from alumina has been completed with promising results, proving that cyanoacrylate is a useful constituent for reaction moulding.
ISSN:0924-0136
DOI:10.1016/S0924-0136(00)00791-3