Producing High-Quality Dentures Economically

To deliver more added value to customers and increase their scope of production in-house, dental laboratories are using a new laser melting system to produce dental implants or crowns with batch sizes as small as 20 units.

THE LASERCUSING^® PROCESS
LaserCUSING^® is a generative laser melting process that is used to produce metallic components that can be subjected to mechanical and thermal loading with high precision. The name of this process is made up of the letter C from developer Concept Laser GmbH (Lichtenfels, Germany) and the term FUSING (which means complete melting), to describe the technology being used, which is a fusion process that generates components layer-by-layer using 3D CAD data.

The generative process takes fine metallic powder and locally fuses it into layers with a highly energetic fibre laser. Depending on the application, the powder materials used are high-grade and tool steels, aluminium or titanium alloys, nickel-based superalloys, cobalt-chromium alloys and, in the future, precious metals such as gold and silver. Each layer of the metallic component being produced, including its complex contours, is created by directing the laser beam using a mirror-deflecting scanner. Following cooling, the material solidifies. The metallic component is then built up layer-by-layer by lowering the bottom of the installation space, applying more powder and fusing again. Each layer ranges in thickness from 20 ?m to 50 ?m.

This generative process allows complex component geometries to be created without the use of any tools, right through to advanced structural geometries which are very difficult to produce, if they can be produced at all, using conventional techniques. In the jewellery, medical, dental, automotive and aerospace industries, for example, LaserCUSING^® can be used to fabricate mold inserts with close-contour cooling and direct components. Both prototypes and mass-produced parts can be manufactured.

THE MLAB CUSING SYSTEM
The concept behind the laser melting machine was to develop a system that is ideally suited to producing parts with delicate and intricate structures, where high surface quality and the finest component integrity are what really matter. With this mind, Concept Laser GmbH designed the Mlab cusing compact laser melting machine to produce dental implants or crowns that are used in dentistry.

The special feature about the machine is its stochastic navigation of the slice segments (also referred to as islands) that are processed successively. The patented process ensures a significant reduction in stresses within the component. For single-part fabrication, a maximum installation space of 300 mm x 350 mm x 300 mm is available. This allows dental laboratories to increase the added value they deliver to their customers as well as the scope of production they perform in-house. Even with batch sizes as small as 20 units, the Mlab cusing machine can provide enhanced economic viability for dental labs.

The Mlab cusing equipment has extremely compact dimensions, measuring 705 mm x 1833 mm x 955 mm. The clever thing about this machine is its user-friendly, pull-out drawer system that includes both the construction chamber with dosing chamber and the storage container. The user can easily exchange the drawers to ensure flexibility with the dimensions of the components. The drawers are easy to remove for the purpose of storing materials. The robust and powerful laser operates with a focus diameter of less than 25 µm in order to reproduce supreme surface qualities and intricate and delicate component structures. The drawer system is available with three different build envelope versions: 50 x 50 mm, 70 x 70 mm and 90 x 90 mm. The height of the build envelope is always 80 mm.

The small Mlab cusing system represents an entry-level model of laser melting that economically taps into the market segment for small intricate components. The generative attributes in this process can also help to enhance the quality of the product. Cavity formation, rejects and a large amount of reworking that can typically arise with the casting method are now a thing of the past.

The Mlab cusing machine combines a high degree of freedom of geometry with real quality. And in contrast to the traditional casting method, laser melting offers the advantage of a fully automated production process that can be allowed to run at all times, including at night. This means that an order can be processed and delivered to the customer the very next day. That is the bottom line: Laser melting ultimately translates into constantly high quality delivered in a short delivery time.

THE DENTURES PRODUCED
Any dental laboratory wishing to switch from the conventional cast production of dentures can enjoy new horizons when it comes to calculation and order throughput by using this system. The unit costs for dentures can reach the market-price level from a demand of just 20 units a day. The calculation improves still further with larger output quantities. All of this improves dental lab results by ensuring higher throughput rates when making dentures and a high level of quality with a smaller amount of reworking required.

The generatively produced dentures simply have to be separated from the building plate, the supporting geometry removed and then be finished. Best of all, each denture possesses a higher material density, which for the high mechanical loads offers advantages over cast parts in dental applications.

For more information, contact Ilona Scholl, Concept Laser GmbH, An der Zeil 8, D-96215 Lichtenfels, Germany, +49 (0) 95 71 / 949-241, Fax: +49 (0) 95 71 / 949-249, i.scholl@concept-laser.de, www.concept-laser.de.