Porous titanium for biomedical applications : development, characterization and biological evaluation

Abstract

Metallic biomaterials have so far shown the greatest potential to be the basis of implants for long-term load-bearing orthopedic and dental applications, owing to their excellent mechanical strength when compared to alternative biomaterials, such as polymers and ceramics. Particularly titanium and its alloys are currently receiving much attention because of their biocompatibility, light weight, excellent balance of mechanical properties, corrosion resistance, etc. They are mainly used in implant devices for replacement of failed hard tissue such as artificial hip and knee joints, bone plates and dental implants. In general, failure of joint replacements due to the mechanical failure of materials such as fatigue fracture of the implant seldom occurs. A more common cause of arthroplasty failure is aseptic loosening of the implant that occurs several years after the implant has been in situ and functioning reasonably, due to interfacial instability within host tissues, biomechanical mismatch of Young’s modulus and lacking biological anchorage through tissue ingrowth