Biomedical materials refer to materials that interact with biological systems to diagnose, treat, repair, or replace tissues, organs in the body or to enhance their functions. It can be divided into medical metal materials, medical polymer materials, medical ceramic materials, etc., among which medical metal materials occupy a large proportion, especially orthopedic products, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular products.
Because titanium is close to human bones, has good biocompatibility to human tissues, non-toxic side effects and incomparable advantages over other materials, medical titanium has been widely used in the medical field. Advantages of biomedical titanium alloys.
Biocompatibility: minimal biological reaction with human body, non-toxic and non-magnetic, as a human implant, non-toxic side effect to human body.
Mechanical properties: high strength, low elastic modulus, not only meet the mechanical requirements, but also similar to the natural bone elastic modulus of human body, can reduce the stress shielding effect, more conducive to the growth and healing of human bone.
Corrosion resistance: Titanium alloy is a biological inert material, which has the intended corrosion resistance in the physiological environment of human body, and does not pollute the physiological environment of human body.
Light weight: the density of the general titanium alloy is only 56% of the stainless steel, implanted in the human body to greatly reduce the human body load. In recent years, the research and development of new type titanium alloys are mainly Ti-Nb, Ti-Mo, Ti-Zr and Ti-Ta alloys. (Elements harmful to human body such as V, Al, Ni, Cr are gradually replaced by non-toxic elements such as Nb, Zr, Ta, Sn, Pt and Mo with good biocompatibility) part of the successfully developed medical low-modulus titanium alloy is shown in the figure below. Compared with other titania alloys, Ti-Nb alloys have a lower elastic modulus, which is closer to the elastic modulus of human bones, and do not contain toxic elements Al and V. Therefore, Ti-Nb alloys are suitable for use as medical metal materials.
