Drive component for medical device

Industry: Medical

Use: Robotic surgery

Description:

This drive component is used to transfer motion to a medical device utilized in robotic surgery. The challenge of making this component starts with the PEEK resin. PEEK is a high-temperature resin used in medical applications to support sterilization requirements. The conditions required to process PEEK are different in many ways from most other engineering-grade resins.

This starts with the requirements to operate the mold and associated molding process at very high temperatures. The mold itself operates near 350°F. The machine operators must wear personal protective equipment capable of withstanding those temperatures. Processing temperatures can reach over 750°F.

These parts are molded in a Sodick Two-Stage Plunger Injection System, an ultra-precision press with a unique plunger-style feed system. In a more conventional style molding machine, the feed screw includes compression zones where the resin is compressed as it feeds through the screw. This compression helps to introduce shear heating into the resin.

In this more common machine design, most of the heat applied to the resin comes from shear heating as the resin flows through the various zones on the machine screw. In the Sodick machine, a portion of the heat is derived from shear, while the primary heating occurs from heater bands around a proprietary ultra-precision plunger system.

The Two-Stage Sodick design significantly reduces the potential of degradation. In addition, the amount of time the resin is exposed to heat eliminates the potential for material degradation.