Titanium (alloy) : Metallic biomaterials with titanium as the main element, including pure titanium and titanium alloys. Pure titanium has the advantages of non-toxic, light weight, corrosion resistance and good biocompatibility, but its low strength and poor wear resistance are not suitable for large load bearing implant instruments. Titanium alloys have higher strength and better workability compared to 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 having tantalum as its 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, there is no conclusive study on whether tantalum-based biomaterials are better than titanium in orthopedic applications.
Objective: To review the literature of comparative study on biological properties of tantalum and titanium (alloy), and to analyze the possible causes of the similarities and differences in the biocompatibility of tantalum and titanium (alloy) materials in vivo and in vitro.
Method: The tantalum (tantalum) title and titanium (titanium) title or abstract were used to search related literature involving comparative studies on the biological properties of tantalum and titanium (alloy) on CNI databases by computer. Namely (tantalum[Title])) AND (titanium[Title/Abstract]) literature, the search deadline is January 2020.
Results & Conclusions: In the literature on comparative study of biological properties of tantalum and titanium (alloy), the results of clinical observation, animal experiments and cell experiments are mainly divided into two categories: one is that tantalum has better osteogenic ability and antibacterial activity than titanium (alloy); the other is that tantalum and titanium (alloy) have similar osteogenic ability and antibacterial activity. The two different results are mainly caused by the differences in processing methods, surface chemical composition, topological structure, pore structure and other physical and chemical properties of tantalum and titanium alloys.
