New semi-isostatic high velocity compaction method to prepare titanium dental copings

Abstract

A new method to prepare titanium dental copings from titanium powder was tested, involving high velocity compaction and various elastic forms, which were used to achieve a semi-isostatic effect during the impact. The tooth preparation die (mandrel) and the powder were placed inside an elastic form. The impact struck the elastic form, and the powder was compacted against the tooth preparation die. Several different elastomers were tested to find the best one. Cross-sections of the powder bodies were studied for density variations. The soft, flexible elastomer worked best to compact the powder. The highest densification could be focused closest to the mandrel where the coping should be milled out. The density in the highest density areas could locally reach 98–99%. If the method with elastic forms could be optimised to give as high a density as without elastic forms, a lower shrinkage and possible deformation of the copings could be reached.