CAD/CAM-machinable disc for the manufacture of fiber inlay-cores

Abstract

The invention concerns a preform for a CAD/CAM machining apparatus having an upper face and a lower face a11d in which at least one of the cells is filled with a composite material to be machined by CAD/CAM, said material comprising long unidirectional fibers embedded in a cross-linked polymer matrix.

Claims

1. A preform for a CAD/CAM machining apparatus, the preform having an upper face and a lower face and comprising at least one cell filled with a composite material to be machined by CAD/CAM, said composite material comprising fibers embedded in a cross-linked polymer matrix, wherein at least 80% of the fibers are longitudinally oriented unidirectional fibers that are vertical to the upper and lower faces of the preform, wherein a material in the preform surrounding the at least one cell includes a resin and does not include fibers.

2. The preform according to claim 1, wherein the at least one cell abuts each of the upper and lower faces of the preform and an entire volume of the cell is filled with the composite material.

3. The preform according to claim 1, wherein the at least one cell is cylindrical.

4. The preform according to claim 3, wherein the at least one cell is 3 to 20 mm in diameter.

5. The preform according to claim 1, wherein the preform is in disc form.

6. The preform according to claim 1, wherein material constituting the polymer matrix and the material surrounding the at least one cell are identical or compatible and are chosen from the group of thermosetting resins including PMMA, TEGDMA, BISGMA, BDMA, HDDMA, UDMA, epoxy and vinylester, or from the group of thermoplastic resins including PC, POM, and PU.

7. The preform according to claim 1, wherein the fibers are chosen from the group comprising glass fibers E, R, S, AR, and XRO, and silica.

8. The preform according to claim 1, wherein the fibers represent 40 to 80% by volume of the polymer matrix.

9. The preform according to claim 1, wherein at least 90% of the fibers are longitudinally oriented unidirectional fibers.

10. The preform according to claim 1, wherein 100% of the fibers are longitudinally oriented unidirectional fibers.

11. The preform according to claim 5, wherein the preform has a diameter of 98 mm.

12. The preform according to claim 8, wherein the fibers represent 60 to 70% by volume of the composite material.

13. The preform according to claim 4, wherein the at least one cell is 10 to 24 mm deep.

14. A process of fabricating the preform of claim 1, positioning into the preform a plurality of cylinders, each cylinder constituted of long comprising the composite material comprising the longitudinal unidirectional fibers embedded in the cross-linked polymer matrix, pouring the resin between each cylinder, cross-linking said resin, unmolding the preform formed from the cross-linked resin, including the cylinders.

15. A method of producing an inlay core, tenons, or implant screws comprising machining by CAD/CAM the composite material filling the at least one cell in the preform of claim 1.

Description

(1) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the support according to the invention.

(2) A rod comprising 81% by weight (64% volume) of unidirectional glass fibers AR and 19% of epoxy resin matrix is manufactured by pultrusion. The rod diameter is 12 mm. The rods are cut into 16 mm sections.

(3) Thirty 12 mm rod sections or nineteen 14 mm portions as marked are positioned in a mold that is 98 mm in diameter and 16 mm thick.

(4) Then an acrylic resin cold-polymerized with a peroxide-based catalyst is poured into the mold.

(5) Lastly, the support is unmolded. This includes the cells filled by the rod sections. The CAD/CAM then inserts a disc into a machining apparatus. To facilitate indexing in the CAD/CAM machine, each portion of the rod is marked. The CAD/CAM then machines each portion to obtain the inlay cores, tenons, or even implant screws. These structures are made of composite fibers wherein the fibers are longitudinal and unidirectional.

(6) The support thus obtained is shown is FIG. 1. It constitutes the support itself (1) shown in disc form with each of its 23 cells filled with a rod section (2). Each portion of the rod is machined by the CAD/CAM. Depending on the diameter of the rods, the disc can contain more cells.

(7) The invention and its advantages will be seen clearly in the following example. This is shown as a non-limiting example for the one skilled in the art. It is thereby shown that inlay cores of composite fibers can be manufactured using CAD/CAM.