Titanium alloy : metallic biomaterials with titanium as the main element, including pure titanium and titanium alloys. Pure titanium has the advantages of non-toxicity, light weight, corrosion resistance and good biocompatibility, but its strength is low, wear resistance is poor, and it is not suitable for carrying large implanted devices. Titanium alloys have higher strength and better processing properties than pure titanium, including Ti-6Al-4V, V-free titanium alloys such as Ti-5Al-2.5Fe and Ti-6Al-7Nb, and V-free Al-free titanium alloys. This paper focuses on pure titanium and Ti-6Al-4V.
Tantalum: metallic biomaterial with tantalum as the main element. Tantalum atomic number is 73, high melting point (up to 2 986 ℃), high density (up to 16.65 g/cm3), good toughness, strong corrosion resistance, no reaction with body fluids, good biocompatibility, is an excellent orthopedic material. This paper focuses on bulk tantalum and coated tantalum.
Background: Tantalum and titanium (alloys) are currently the most widely used orthopedic biomaterials, especially tantalum-based biomaterials, which are favored by clinicians for their excellent corrosion resistance and bone integration. However, the existing studies are inconclusive as to whether tantalum-based biomaterials are superior to titanium (alloy) in orthopedic applications.
Results & Conclusions: In the literature on comparative study of biological properties of tantalum and titanium (alloy), the conclusions of clinical observation, animal experiments and cell experiments are mainly divided into two categories: one is that tantalum has better bone promoting ability and antibacterial activity than titanium (alloy); the other is that tantalum and titanium (alloy) have similar bone promoting ability and antibacterial activity. The main reason for these two different results is that tantalum and titanium (alloys) have different processing methods, surface chemical composition, topological structure or pore structure and other physical and chemical properties.
