Doug Smock, Senior Technical Editor, Materials & Assembly
7/21/2011An innovative medical development company in Miami is using a self-locking fastener to dramatically extend the life of an elbow implant.
“We aimed to fill a gap in the market by providing the ability to orient the joint to its natural position during surgery, and then locking it in place for the rest of the patient’s life,” says Tom Norman, vice president of engineering at Skeletal Dynamics. “We considered traditional fastener thread forms, but lacked confidence that they would stay in place for the up to a million load cycles an active patient could subject them to in their lifetime. Instead, we selected an innovative self-locking fastener called Spiralock.”
via Design News – News – Self-Locking Fastener Improves Elbow Implant.