摘要 |
A prosthetic acetabular cup assembly, for receiving a ball attached to a femur, including components interlocked via a locking mechanism that includes a retaining ring fabricated at least in part using a polyaryletherketone material, such as PEEK. The locking mechanism is designed to meet predefined constraints such as assuring that substantially all motion is eliminated between assembled parts, assuring further that push-in/pull-out forces of assembly are within generally accepted industry standards, etc. Further aspect of the invention are directed to (a) the form and composition of the locking mechanism per se, such as locking mechanisms including a retaining ring fabricated at least in part using a polyaryletherketone material, where the shape of the retaining ring and manner in which it cooperates with the other components in the cup assembly results in a locking mechanism that satisfies the aforementioned constraints; (b) processes for fabricating specific types of retaining rings for use in securing the components of an acetabular cup assembly; and (c) to locking rings per se made utilizing polyaryletherketone material and composites including a polyaryletherketone material.
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