Processing of Polymers and Introduction to Metallic

Biomaterials

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 Processing of Polymers
Forming Polymers

1. Extrusion of Polymers
• Extrusion is a process of manufacturing long products of
constant cross-section (rods, sheets, pipes, films, wire insulation
coating) forcing soften polymer through a die with an opening.
• Polymer material in form of pellets is fed into an extruder
through a hopper. The viscous fluid material is then conveyed
forward by a feeding screw and forced through a die, converting
to continuous polymer product.
• Heating elements, placed over the barrel, soften and melt
the polymer. The temperature of the material is controlled by
thermocouples.
• The product going out of the die is cooled by blown air or in
water bath.
• Extrusion of polymers (in contrast to extrusion of metals) is
continuous process lasting as long as raw pellets are supplied
• This method is used to produce length of polymeric tubes, rods,
and also in biomedical field, extrusion is commonly employed
in the fabrication of catheters and vascular grafts
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 Processing of Polymers
Forming Polymers

1. Fiber Spinning of Polymers

• A variant of extrusion for polymers is Fiber Spinning

• In this procedure , a molten polymer is pumped through

a plate (spinneret) that has many holes. The polymer
exiting from each hole forms a single fiber, which cools
upon contact with air.

• The strength of the polymer along the main fiber axis

can be improved after formation by applying tension
along this axis (called Drawing or Pre-drawing). Schematic of fiber spinning
process. A molten polymer is
• Meshes can be produced from polymeric fibers. pumped through a plate
(spinneret) containing many
small holes. The polymer exiting
from each hole forms a single
fiber, which cools upon contact.
These filaments are then
packaged on spools for storage
and shipping
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 Processing of Polymers
Forming Polymers
1. Fiber Spinning of Polymers
Several methods for organizing these fibers in three
dimensions have been developed, which are
i. Weaving
ii. Knitting
iii. Braiding
iv. Electrospinning

Warp and weft in weaving

i. Weaving
• Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two
distinct sets of yarns or fibers are interlaced at right
angles to form a fabric 
• The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the
lateral threads are the weft or filling. 
• Mesh/ Fabric is usually woven on a loom, a device that
holds the warp threads in place while filling threads are
woven through them
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 Processing of Polymers
Forming Polymers

1. Fiber Spinning of Polymers

ii. Electrospinning

• If fiber diameters less than about 10𝞵m

• In this method, the molten (or liquefied) polymer is

extruded from a very fine nozzle into a strong
electrostatic field (voltages of 5-30kV).

• This field acts to overcome the surface tension of the

liquid and accelerates parts of this liquid in the general
direction of a (grounded) target.

• Each part of the liquid cools upon contact with air,

forming fine, looping fibers that can be collected.

• However, because of the looping nature of the fibers,

the collected material is usually formed into a three-
dimensional non-woven mesh

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 Processing of Polymers
Casting Polymers
Like metals and ceramics, polymers can be cast into a mold and allowed to solidify. Three of the
most common types of molding are;
i. Compression Molding of Polymers
ii. Injection Molding of Polymers
iii. Blow Molding of Polymers

i. Compression Molding
• In Compression molding, the stock polymer (preform) is placed in
a heated (die)
• One half of the mold is then moved down to come in contact with
the stock material
• This applies pressure and forces the polymer into the desired shape
(i.e. preform should fill the mould). An ejector pin is manufactured
into the mold to facilitate removal of the final polymerized product
• It is a common shaping method for Thermosets, but is also used
with Thermoplastic polymers
• For example, high-molecular weight poly(ethylene) UHMWPE can
be processed in this manner to form orthopedic implants
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 Processing of Polymers
Casting Polymers

i. Compression Molding

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 Processing of Polymers
Casting Polymers
ii. Injection Molding

• Injection molding requires first melting the stock polymer in

a heated chamber

• The viscous liquid polymer is then forced through the nozzle

due to pressure applied by the ram

• After the correct amount of polymer has exited the nozzle to

fill the die, the pressure is maintained until the polymer has
cooled and solidified, when it is removed from the mold

• A main advantage of injection molding is its speed, i.e. a

new piece may be fabricated every few seconds using this
method

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 Processing of Polymers
Casting Polymers
ii. Injection Molding

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 Processing of Polymers
Rapid Prototyping
Basic Principals of Additive Manufacturing are;

• 3D model generated

• Sliced

• Each slice manufactured and layers are fused together

• A voxel (volumetric pixel or, more correctly, Volumetric Picture Element) is a volume element,
representing a value on a regular grid in three dimensional space. This is analogous to a pixel,
which represents 2D image data in a bitmap (which is sometimes referred to as a pixmap).

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 Processing of Polymers
Rapid Prototyping
ii. Fused Deposition Modelling

 Initially, 3D design is prepared in STL file format which is

widely used in Rapid-Prototyping and computer-aided
manufacturing.

 FDM machine fabricate parts based on deposition of extruded

thermoplastic polymer in an additive fashion

 During part production, thermoplastic filament was fed from

the canister which was located in the base of the machine
through a heating element to the extrusion head.

3D design of Spinal implant

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 Processing of Polymers
Rapid Prototyping
ii. Fused Deposition Modelling
 The thermoplastic was liquefied and extruded along
precise tool paths creating the shape of each layer. The
system extruded both build material and temporary
support material layer by layer over acrylic platform sheet
by the help of two different nozzles

 Since the material was extruded in a semi-molten state,

the newly deposited material fused with adjacent material
that had already been deposited.

 The head moved around in the X-Y plane and deposited

material according to the part geometry, and the platform
holding the part moved vertically in the Z-plane to begin
depositing a new layer on top of the previous one
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 Processing of Polymers
Rapid Prototyping
ii. Fused Deposition Modelling

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 Processing of Polymers
Rapid Prototyping
ii. 3D Inkjet Printing

 Thermoplastic polymers are used as inks

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Introduction to Metallic Biomaterials

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 PRIMARY AND SECONDARY BONDS

• Primary Bonds: Chemical (strong) bonding,

involves the transfer or sharing of electrons:
ionic, covalent, or metallic bonds.

• Secondary Bonds: Physical (weak) bonding,

does not involve the transfer or sharing of
electrons: hydrogen and van der Waals
bonds.

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DIRECTIONAL AND NON-DIRECTIONAL BONDS

• Directional Bonds: Single or multiple bonds,

which are localized and occur at fixed
angles with respect to each other.

• Non-Directional Bonds: Bonding is equally

probable at all angles. The bond is not
localized to a specific direction.

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 THE THREE PRIMARY OR STRONG BONDS

 Metal to Non-Metal: Ionic

 Non-Metal to Non-Metal: Covalent

 Metal to Metal: Metallic

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 Introduction to Metallic Biomaterials
• Metals are used as biomaterials due to their excellent
electrical and thermal conductivity and mechanical
properties

• The mobile free electrons act as the binding force to hold

the positive metal ions together

• This attraction is strong, as evidenced by the closely

packed atomic arrangement resulting in high specific
gravity and high melting points for most metals

• Since the metallic bond is essentially non-directional,

the position of the metal ions can be altered without
destroying the crystal structure resulting in a plastically
deformable solid

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Non-directional Metallic Bond

_
+ +

Directional Covalent Bond

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 Introduction to Metallic Biomaterials
 Their properties depend on the processing method and
purity of the metal.

 Mostly used in load bearing applications

 Some metals are used as Passive substitutes for hard

tissue replacement such as total hip and knee joints, Orthopedic implants and Medical Tubing
for fracture healing aids as bone plates and screws,
spinal fixation devices and dental implants

 Some metallic alloys are used for more active roles in

devices such as vascular stents, catheter guide wires,
orthodontic archwires and cochlea implants
Stents

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 Introduction to Metallic Biomaterials

Physical Properties of Metals

• Luster (shininess)

• Good conductors of heat and electricity

Malleable metal sheets

• High density (heavy for their size)

• High melting point

• Ductile (most metals can be drawn out into thin wires)

• Malleable (most metals can be hammered into thin

sheets)

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 Introduction to Metallic Biomaterials

Chemical Properties of Metals

• Easily lose electrons;

• Surface reactive;

• Loss of mass; (some corrode easily)

Corrosion is a gradual wearing away Metal degrade by corrosion

• Change in mechanical properties

Reaction of H2 molecule with metal

surface: a) H2 molecule move toward the
metal surface. b) physisorbtion of H2
molecule through Van der Waals interaction
with metal surface c) chemisorption of
hydrogen after dissociation d) occupation of
subsurface sites and diffusion into bulk.
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 Structure of Metals
Metals are crystalline, and because metallic bonding is non-directional, there are a wide variety of
atomic configurations possible to create a number of crystal structures

 Crystal Structures

• A number of physical properties depend on the crystal structure of a

material
• For ease of communication, crystal structures are usually described
on the basis of their unit cells
• A unit cell is the configuration of atoms in a small section of the
crystal that is repeated again and again in three dimensions to form
Schematic of a simple cubic
the final material unit cell and its relationship to
three dimensional atomic
structure. The corners of the
unit cell coincide with the
centers of the atoms in the
final structure

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 Structure of Metals
 Types of Crystal Structures

 Face centered cubic (FCC)

 Body centered cubic (BCC)

 Hexagonal close packed (HCP)

Face-Centered Cubic Structure

 Atoms are arranged at the corners and center of each cube face of the cell.
 Atoms are assumed to touch along face diagonals

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 Structure of Metals
 Types of Crystal Structures
Face-Centered Cubic Structure
 When discussing crystal structures, it is convenient to compare them
using parameters such as Coordination Number and Atomic Packing
factor (APF)
 Coordination number ----- the number of nearest neighbors to any
atom. For FCC systems, the coordination number is 12
 APF----- is based on the Atomic hard-sphere model, which depicts
each atom as a sphere requiring a fixed volume OR in which all
spheres have equal diameter . APF is a means of discussing how much
unoccupied space there is in a particular structure and is found using:

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 Structure of Metals
 Types of Crystal Structures
Body –Centered Cubic Structure
 In this structure, there are atoms at all eight corners and a single atom
at the center of the cube

• Coordination number for BCC is 8. Each center atom is surrounded by the eight corner
atoms.
• The lower coordination number also results in a slightly lower APF for BCC structures. BCC
has an APF of 0.68, rather than 0.74 in FCC

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 Structure of Metals
 Types of Crystal Structures
Hexagonal close packed
 Cell of an HCP lattice is visualized as a top and bottom plane of 7 atoms,
forming a regular hexagon around a central atom. In between these planes
is a half-hexagon of 3 atoms

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 Structure of Metals
 Types of Crystal Structures

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 Structure of Metals

Grain Boundaries

• Where crystals meet grain boundaries are created

• Crystal will grow naturally (along axes) until they

begin to interfere.
• The interference point where crystal structures
meet is called the grain boundary.

• Finer and more homogenous grain size results in

more homogeneous packing of the crystal and
impedes dislocation type motion (prevents slip)
• Grain-size reduction usually improves toughness.
• Grain size can be controlled by slowing the rate of
solidification and by plastic deformation after
solidification.

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 Structure of Metals
Grain Boundaries

Crystals

Grain Boundary Grain or Crystalline

Structure
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