Characterization and optimization of micro-machining of dental implants, screws and pillars

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Milident has been offering cutting-edge products, services and techniques to dental care providers for over 20 years. In recent years, fierce market competition is putting Milident under enormous pressure to offer higher quality and customised/personalized products at lower competitive prices. However, there is currently only one Canadian manufacturer of high-precision key dental components such as pillars. Therefore, they mostly have to be imported at extremely high prices. To address this problematic, Milident is expanding its capabilities to innovative micro-machining of dental pillars, screws and implants. In-house production is estimated to yield a substantial costs reduction by over factor 100 as compared to imported components. A major step in this venture was the recent purchase of a sophisticated, innovative Swiss, CAD/CAM micro-milling machine. Broaching or shape forming is the most critical step in the machining process as it can involve major deformations close to or even beyond the materials plasticity limit. This can lead to compromised performance and durability as well as to pre-damage of the dental components. The proposed project will provide Milident the critical expertise and support to achieve its goal. It will help develop an advanced manufacturing process as well as stringent quality control and assurance procedures. The initial Titanium rods, blanks and prototypes manufactured using well-defined sets of micro-machining parameters will be comparatively investigated. Microstructure changes and potential pre-damages during fabrication will be studied using optical and scanning electron microscopy. Tensile tests on the initial Ti rods will allow establishing the material deformation behaviour and limits. Vickers and Rockwell hardness tests will enable studying work hardening during micro-machining. This venture will make Milident the first manufacturer of high-precision key dental