Polishing Cobalt Chrome - Case Study

Kemet have a three stage polishing process that gives a flat and blemish free mirror polish on Titanium, and Cobalt Chrome tibial implant. Until now almost all Tibial polishing has included a labour intensive hand buffing operation as the final stage. This has always resulted in very rounded components, and pluck out problems particularly on the Cobalt Chrome tibial implants.

Test Requirements: Perfect mirror polish on 5 Tibial implants
Component/Material: Cobalt Chrome Tibial implant (Orthopedic Implants)
Abrasive Type/Grade: Kemet diamond slurry
Machine: Kemet Tibial polishing system

The components were first run on a Kemet Tibial polishing system with Kemet rough lap diamond slurry. This produced a good flat finish with scratches visible across the surface. A longer than usual process time was required for the first stage due to deep machining marks on some of the components.

The components were then run on a Kemet Tibial polishing system with Kemet pre-polish diamond slurry. This produced a good flat finish with light scratching visible across the surface of the components ready for final polishing.

Finally the components were run on a Kemet Tibial polishing system with Kemet precision polishing slurry and a Chem H pad. This produced an excellent mirror polish with no scratches or blemishes visible across the surface.

After Polishing Cobalt