Designing and Fabrication of Shoulder Joint Prototype

Abstract

Shoulder is a flexible joint consist of multi axis synovial ball and socket arrangement. It is a combination of scapula, humerus and clavicle that demands partial or complete because of disease or accidental fracture. In the current scenario, surgeons have preferred the implants made of CoCr, Ti or Ti-alloy because of several mechanical and biological advantages. The commercial grade prosthesis is usually made of several techniques like casting, forging, CNC machining, injection molding etc. Herein, a similar prototype has been attempted through casting followed by machining of representative aluminium 6061 metal only, and characterized up to a certain extent of limit. Prior to fulfill the objective, four parts in specific glenoid, eccentric circular head, eccentric circular disc and stem have been designed in CATIA. The dimension and design features were confirmed through finite element analysis (FEA) under the platform of ANSYS. Stress distribution and deformation are analyzed in order to define the stability and failure phenomena. In continuation of component designing, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) polymer prototype was fabricated through rapid prototype technique followed that prepared the sand/clay mold and casted through molten aluminum. The aluminum was melted into raising hearth furnace at 700oC in alumina crucible. The casted product machined in order to achieve targeted dimension. Several disks and cylinders were also casted to assess the microstructure and mechanical response. The current approach demonstrates a fabrication protocol of metallic prototype that can be adapted for the development of particulate inserted metallic bioimplants.