From Medical Equipment to Implants, Innovative Self-Locking Fasteners Safeguard Reliability

Failure is not an option when it comes to medical equipment. From critical or sensitive devices like lasers, MRI scanners, knee joints, and implantable pacemakers to instruments as straightforward as stethoscopes, when life or quality of life is at stake, medical equipment must be reliable. In the medical field there's little room for the $15 billion per year spent by 25 of the largest US manufacturers on warranty claims; and little room for processing those claims that eat up 2.5% to 4.5% of revenues for companies across all industries. The industry has higher aims than other fields and customer satisfaction and warranty problems associated with fastener failure must be prevented or quickly and economically handled. Due to medicine's working environment inside and outside the human body, fasteners such as C-clips and specialized retaining rings can prove too cumbersome and costly. Because repetitive loads, shock and vibrational loosening must be decisively handled, traditional fasteners susceptible to self-loosening rotational movement, stripping, and shearing are not always appropriate either.