AFRC_CRAD_94_IAA

The NHS and Pascoe Engineering Ltd wanted to look into a new method of producing accurate custom cranial implants. Their implants currently produce shave a tolerance of about 2mm. They were using a combination of hand tools, rapid prototyping and cold pressing. It takes about 6 weeks to create; it is then followed by anodising and sterilisation. Total time can be over 3 months. In this time the patient wounds can become infected, the skin surrounding the damaged section can shrink which will cause further complications in the recovery process. Using the Incremental sheet forming (ISF) process it is possible to reduce the forming time to less than a few hours (20 minutes to cut the polymer die and 20 mins to form the sheet into an implant), then followed by annealing, anodization and sterilisation. In terms of cost, it can costs over £3k for a custom cranial implant using the current method but less than £500 for implants made using the ISF process. The ISF implants have now received MHRA (Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency) certification and can be supplied to hospitals.This has allowed Pascoe Engineering Ltd to step into a new industry and diverge the products and services they offer.