A special alloy for making Dental Frames
In the past RPD (Removable Partial Denture) framework where casted because of the complexity of the shape and the tolerances allowed to obtain a good fit. When 3D metal printing entered the market to be an alternative for casting a lot of other benefits came to the surface.
3D printing boasts several benefits over conventional manufacturing techniques. It streamlines production schedules, mitigates the health hazards associated with metallic fumes in casting processes, and delivers frames of superior quality, characterized by enhanced strength and ductility. It is also more accurate in tolerances and fit and requires less work for finishing and polishing. The 3D printing process is in principle a multi-layer welding process where each new layer is reheating the previous layer and this creates the perfect micro structure with the highest strength possible.
CEWELD Dur MoW is a redesigned Cobalt based alloy that fulfills the requirements as stated in EN ISO 22674 and is intended to be used for printing dental frames and body parts in medical applications. Among the alloys suitable for medical implants this alloy has a proven record and offers the highest strength properties of all alloys currently available.
Purchasing a 3D metal printer is the easiest part but the final quality of the printed part is for 90% determent by the parameters used for the final heat treatments of the alloy.
After the frame being printed another critical part takes place to keep the original shape of the frame, the holding time and temperature are strict parameters to obtain a successful stress relieve on the frame. This annealing process is than followed by a solution annealing process in a vacuum oven at very high temperatures to obtain the ideal microstructure that eventually determines the required strength and stiffness of the frame.
The company “Unique Metal 3D printing” has earned a high reputation due to their proven track record and know how. With a capacity of almost 100 frames every 24 hours they service the dental labs with very short lead times and keep complete batch registration to secure consistency.
Miss Karen Kuil, director of Unique Metal 3D printing was already involved when the first printed frames in the Netherlands where produced, in these early 90`s the market had no idea that 3D printing was going to be the future for the dental frame partials.
In the dental market, the transition to digitization is indispensable. The 3D metal printing of frame partials is therefore massively embraced. Unique Metal welcomes new customers weekly.
