Product Name:
Alumina Ceramic Cerebrovascular Stent MoldProduct Material:
High-Purity, High-Fineness Alumina Ceramic (Al₂O₃ 99.5% and above). To enhance wear resistance or impact resistance in specific areas, Zirconia Toughened Alumina (ZTA) composite material can be applied locally.
Material Characteristics:
Very high hardness (Mohs hardness 9) and wear resistance, Excellent dimensional stability and low coefficient of thermal expansion, Outstanding chemical inertness and thermal stability, Surface capable of achieving extremely high smoothness (Ra < 0.05 µm) and precise micro-topography, Material is pure, non-magnetic, with low outgassing, High rigidity ensures minimal deformation of the mold during high-pressure forming processes.
Application Fields:
Precision micro-forming mold mandrels or cavities for manufacturing intracranial vascular stents (e.g., flow diverters, braided stents, balloon-expandable stents); Thermoforming or solvent-setting molds for bioabsorbable polymer vascular stents; Masks or fixtures for precision spray coating of drug-eluting coatings (e.g., paclitaxel, sirolimus) on stent surfaces.
Application Industries:
Biomedical (R&D and production of high-end interventional medical devices), Advanced Medical Device Manufacturing.
Processing Difficulties:
Machining mold surfaces with complex three-dimensional mesh, serpentine, or honeycomb micro-structures (feature sizes can be as small as tens of microns) on ceramic materials; Ensuring extremely high dimensional consistency, symmetry, and surface profile accuracy (tolerances often at the ±2µm level) across the entire circumference of the mold; Achieving ultra-precision machining and internal wall polishing of high-aspect-ratio features like deep narrow grooves and micro-holes; Controlling the machining process to eliminate micro-cracks and surface defects, ensuring the mold's fatigue life and long-term operational stability; Meeting the indirect requirements of medical device molds for cleanliness and biocompatibility.
Processing Flow:
Processing and precision batching of micron-grade high-purity alumina powder → Green body fabrication via micro-injection molding, stereolithography, or precision milling based on 3D model data → Debinding and atmosphere-controlled precision sintering → Three-dimensional micro-structure forming using ultra-precision 5-axis machining centers → Specialized grinding and polishing of micro-feature areas (using customized micro diamond tools) → Full 3D dimensional scanning and comparison via Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) and high-magnification optical profilometer → Multi-step ultrasonic and plasma deep cleaning → Final cleanroom inspection and packaging
Delivery Period:
Molds based on proven designs: 90-150 days
First-of-its-kind custom molds with new designs, extremely complex structures, or exceptionally high precision requirements: 180-300 days
The Alumina Ceramic Cerebrovascular Stent Mold is the core precision tool for forming the new generation of high-performance intracranial vascular stents. These stents feature extremely complex and intricate structures, imposing extreme demands on the forming mold's dimensional accuracy, surface quality, and durability. Alumina ceramic, with its unparalleled hardness, exceptional dimensional stability, and the ability to achieve arbitrarily complex three-dimensional micro-shapes through advanced machining technologies, has become the ideal material for manufacturing such top-tier molds. This mold can not only precisely replicate every geometric detail of the stent design (including ultra-thin struts, precise mesh pores, and smooth junctions) but its ultra-high wear resistance also ensures the continuous production of stent products with highly consistent dimensions and surface quality over tens of thousands of precise forming cycles. It serves as the critical bridge from laboratory prototype to large-scale, high-quality mass production.
Key Features:
Ultimate Dimensional Accuracy and Complex Micro-Structure Replication Capability – Leveraging the excellent machinability of alumina ceramic combined with ultra-precision CNC and micro-machining technologies, complex 3D mold surfaces that are highly consistent with the stent design blueprint can be fabricated with high fidelity. Its extremely low coefficient of thermal expansion ensures dimensional stability of the mold under forming temperature fluctuations, thereby guaranteeing highly consistent expansion diameter, wall thickness, and pore density in mass-produced stents. This is crucial for the stent's mechanical performance and hemodynamic effects.
Superior Surface Quality and Extended Service Life – The mold's working surface undergoes mirror-grade polishing, achieving nano-level smoothness. This directly determines the smoothness of the formed stent surface, which is of great significance for reducing platelet adhesion and lowering thrombosis risk. The ultra-high hardness of alumina ceramic enables it to resist friction and erosion from polymer or metal raw materials under high pressure and temperature. The mold's lifespan far exceeds that of traditional metal molds, significantly reducing the amortized mold cost per stent.
Exceptional Chemical Stability and Process Cleanliness – The material possesses perfect chemical inertness, not reacting with any polymer monomers, solvents, or cleaning agents, ensuring no contamination is introduced during the forming process. Its dense, non-porous structure also prevents residue adsorption, facilitating thorough cleaning and meeting the stringent cleanliness standards of medical device production. This provides fundamental assurance for the production of safe and effective implantable devices.
