Method of manufacturing a shaped titanium article
View Patent ↗A method of manufacturing a metallic blank into a shaped article useful as an enclosure for an implantable medical device is described. The method entails a plurality of steps in a particular order to obtain certain finish characteristics. Some of them are a surface roughness for bond ability and/or a uniform surface finish on the drawn section of the blank. The preset steps must be completed in a particular order; otherwise the desired characteristics are not provided.
1. A method of manufacturing a shaped titanium article, comprising the steps of:
a) providing a blank of titanium having at least an exterior surface and an interior surface;
b) drawing the titanium blank into a desired geometry of the shaped article;
c) annealing the shaped article;
d) blasting at least a portion of the exterior surface of the shaped article with a bead material directly impinging on the titanium in a bead-blasting step;
e) drawing the bead-blasted titanium at least a second time to a further desired geometry of the shaped article; and
f) finishing the shaped article to a final desired geometry, wherein the exterior surface of the finished shaped article has a uniform surface finish on those portions that were bead-blasted and then drawn.
2. The method of claim 1 including trimming the shaped article after the second drawing step.
3. The method of claim 1 including pickling the shaped article after the bead-blasting step.
4. The method of claim 1 including subjecting the shaped article to an alkaline rinse after the bead-blasting step.
5. The method of claim 4 including pickling the shaped article after the alkaline rinse step.
6. The method of claim 1 including piercing the shaped article to provide it with apertures.
7. The method of claim 1 including bead-blasting the shaped article with either stainless steel or ceramic beads.
8. The method of claim 1 including providing the bead material having a diameter of about 0.002 to about 0.005 inches.
9. The method of claim 1 including providing the bead material as a fused zirconium silica material comprised of, by weight: about 67% ZrO 2 , about 30% SiO 2 , remainder being about 3% of a combination of Al 2 O 3 , Fe 2 O 3 , and TiO 2 .
10. The method of claim 1 including blasting the bead material at the shaped article using either air or water.
11. The method of claim 1 including utilizing the finished shaped article in an implantable medical device.
12. A method of manufacturing a shaped article of titanium, comprising the steps of:
a) providing a blank of titanium having at least an exterior surface and an interior surface;
b) drawing the titanium blank into a desired geometry of the shaped article;
c) annealing the shaped article;
d) air blasting at least a portion of the exterior surface of the shaped article with ceramic beads directly impinging on the titanium;
e) drawing the bead blasted titanium at least a second time to a further desired geometry of the shaped article; and
f) finishing the shaped article to a final desired geometry.
13. The method of claim 12 including providing the ceramic beads as a fused zirconium silica material comprised of, by weight: about 67% ZrO 2 , about 30% SiO 2 , remainder being about 3% of a combination of Al 2 O 3 , Fe 2 O 3 , and TiO 2 .
14. A method of manufacturing a shaped metal article, comprising the steps of:
a) providing a blank of metal having at least an exterior surface and an interior surface;
b) drawing the blank into a desired geometry of the shaped article;
c) annealing the shaped article;
d) blasting at least a portion of the exterior surface of the shaped article with a bead material in a bead-blasting step;
e) drawing the shaped article at least a second time to a further desired geometry of the shaped article;
f) trimming the shaped article after the second drawing step; and
g) finishing the shaped article to the final desired geometry.
15. A method of manufacturing a shaped metal article, comprising the steps of:
a) providing a blank of metal having at least an exterior surface and an interior surface;
b) drawing the blank into a desired geometry of the shaped article;
c) annealing the shaped article;
d) blasting at least a portion of the exterior surface of the shaped article with a bead material in a bead-blasting step;
e) drawing the shaped article at least a second time to a further desired geometry of the shaped article; and
f) finishing the shaped article to the final desired geometry including piercing the shaped article to provide it with apertures.
16. A method of manufacturing a shaped metal article, comprising the steps of:
a) providing a blank of metal having at least an exterior surface and an interior surface;
b) drawing the blank into a desired geometry of the shaped article;
c) annealing the shaped article;
d) blasting at least a portion of the exterior surface of the shaped article with a bead material in a bead-blasting step;
e) drawing the shaped article at least a second time to a further desired geometry of the shaped article;
f) finishing the shaped article to the final desired geometry; and
g) utilizing the finished shaped article in an implantable medical device.