Medical
Dental Abutments
MTC Stourport manufacture dental abutments using their medical grade ISO13356 Yttria Partially Stabilised Zirconia. Zirconia offers two main benefits, firstly the superior strength and toughness capable of achieving 5 million life cycle testing. Secondly the material provides a natural colour finish. The manufacturing process used is Ceramic Injection Moulding (CIM) which enables MTC Stourport to produce complex geometries to very tight tolerances. Previous to CIM, abutments were commonly machined from solid bar, this is an extremely expensive method of manufacture. CIM offers superior repeatability and surface finish.
MTC Stourport offer high purity Alumina in CIM, this can be used for medical components which do not require implanting. Alumina 99.5% provides excellent strength and high surface finish qualities when flat sealing faces are critical.
Ablation components
Medical device companies have partnered with MTC Stourport to optimise treatment of soft tissues via energy-based modalities, including microwave endometrial ablation (MEA), radiofrequency ablation (RFA), laser, thermal ablation, and ultrasonic ablation. MTC provide Zirconia or Alumina injection moulded tips capable of withstanding the temperatures encountered during the course of an ablation procedure and strong enough to make incisions without the risk of breakages.
One limitation of traditional microwave ablation therapy has been the inability to treat large tumors without numerous overlapping ablations. Recent advances in the engineering of the microwave antennas using ceramic probes have succeeded in improving the speed and size of the ablation. Ceramic exhibits low loss at the microwave frequency while providing the necessary insulation.
MTC Stourport has many years of experience producing Precision Seals, markets include Oxygen Concentrator systems and Blood Management systems.
Seals for Blood Apheresis Devices
MTC Stourport is one of the largest single manufacturers of seals for automated blood collection devices in the world. These seals are supplied in their millions to a number of different customers with end use for donors in many countries and by many organisations including the Red Cross.
Quality is key for this product with zero failure rate requirement from the customer. High volume, high quality Aluminium Oxide material matched with expert secondary processing to achieve exceptional flatness and surface finish, ensure these products continue to meet the most stringent FDA approval.
Oxygen Concentrator Systems
The system is used to produce oxygen from room air. The separated oxygen is used by medical patients in need of pure oxygen for breathing. An innovative application of proven ceramic technology, it’s the first valve of its kind in the industry. The ceramic valve is maintenance free and extremely durable.
Ceramic offers increased wear performance compared with Stainless Steel but also prevented sticking of the valve plates especially when units are used by smokers. The tar causes Stainless Steel to stick and fail.
Neurostimulators, usually referred to as an implantable pulse generator (IPG).
MTC Stourport’s Ceramic Injection Moulding (CIM) facility provides implantable housings made with biocompatible Zirconia for use in migraine and cluster headache treatment. The superior strength of Zirconia casings make novel and new modalities possible that traditional materials would not allow. The CIM ceramic can then be brazed and hermetically sealed to the feedthrough. Zirconia is transparent to radiofrequency energy, so signals can be passed through the wall for communication, and possible charging. The ceramic material is also inherently insulating, so electrical wires can be placed closer together than a metal flanged feedthrough brazed into a metal housing.
