BIOMATERIAL SCIENCE

By Dr NSHIMIYIMANA ALEXIS
Orthopedic resident -UR
 INTRODUCTION
• A biomaterial is any substance or combination
of substances (other than a drug), synthetic or
natural in origin, that can be used for any
period of time as a whole or part of a system
that treats, augments or replaces any tissue,
organ or function of the body.
• Many choices are available according to their
properties
 DIFFERENT TYPES
1. METAL ALLOYS:
• Stainless steel
• Titanium
• Cobalt-Chrome
2. CERAMICS AND GLASSES
3. POLYMERS
1. METAL ALLOYS
 General properties
• Constituted from metallic and non-metallic
elements
• All the metal alloys share some properties in
terms of microstructure, mechanical
properties and chemical reactivity.
 Microstructure
• Crystalline lattice
microstructure
(three-dimensional)
• Three crystalline
arrangements: body-
centered cubic (BCC),
face-centered cubic
(FCC) and hexagonal
close-packed (HCP)
 Microstructure cont’d
• Density depends on the number of atoms in
contact with each other
• FCC and HCP have higher densities
• Plastic deformation is easiest in FCC arrangement
• Arrangements of crystals can be changed into
grains by melting and solidification from molten
state
• The smaller the grain size, the higher the strength
of the material
 Mechanical Properties
• Stiff, ductile and hard
• Different resistance to plastic deformation
• Work hardening: tensile loading to deform a
metal alloy by making strains and dislocations
to its microstructure
• Cold working and annealing
• Fatigue failure
 Chemical properties
• Metallic bonds
• Free electron model : Metal atoms lose
electrons and become ions in crystal
structures and electrons circulate freely
• Hence, Electrical and thermal conductivity and
high chemical reactivity
• Passivation (eg: with nitric oxide) protects
them from corrosion
 Stainless steel
• Formed by Iron and carbon.
• Chromium added for passivation
• 316L (3% Molybdenum and 16%
Nickel, added to the normal
alloy of Iron, carbon and
chromium, with low carbon
content) is the most commonly
used in orthopedics
• FCC and BCC
 Stainless steel cont’d
• More ductile
• Low yield stress level
• Advantages:
• Strength
• Ductility
• Reasonable Resistance to corrosion
• Reasonable Biocompatibility
• Relatively cheap
• Disadvantages
• Susceptible to crevice corrosion
• Susceptible to stress corrosion
 Titanium alloys
• The most commonly
used orthopedic
titanium alloy is
titanium 64
• Aluminium (6%) and
vanadium (4%).
• Biphasic structure
(HCP and BCC)
Adv:
Disadv:
• Improved fatigue • Notch sensitivity
resistance (scratching reduces
fatigue resistance)
• Remarkable
• susceptible to wear
resistance to
corrosion • systemic cytotoxic
vanadium ion release
• Excellent
biocompatibility • accelerated particle-
induced wear from
• Auto passivation by
titanium prostheses
forming TiO2
• relatively expensive.
• Lower young’s
modulus
 Cobalt chrome alloys
• Contain primarily
cobalt,
• significant amounts of
added chromium
• Minor amounts of
carbon, nickel and
molybdenum
 Cobalt chrome cont’d
Advantages Disadvantage
• Excellent resistance to
corrosion, especially • Very Expensive
crevice corrosion
• Good long-term
biocompatibility
• Strongest of the metal
alloys
• Mechanical properties
can be altered by
manufacturing methods
Comparison
2. CERAMICS AND GLASSES
 Definition
• Ceramics are compounds of metallic elements,
such as aluminium, zirconium and silicon,
bound ionically and/or covalently with
nonmetallic elements.
• Common ceramics include aluminium oxide
(alumina), silicon oxide (silica), zirconium
oxide (zirconia) and hydroxyapatite (HA).
 Microstructure and manufacture
• Ionic bonds with electron transfer from metal to non
metallic element
• Granular structure
• Grain size dependent properties
• made by mixing powdered ceramic and water and
pressing them into prefabricated casts
• Heated by high temp
• The smaller the initial particle size, the smaller the
resulting grain size and, consequently, the higher the
strength.
 Chemical and mechanical properties
• Chemically inert
• Insoluble
• Best biocompatibility
• High elastic modulus
• Brittleness: No plastic
deformation
• Limited use: Femoral head
component in THR, Coating of
metal implants
 Hydroxyapatite
• HA coatings are good osteoconductors and
bond to bone
• Brittle
• Difficult metal coating
• Can be combined with cement
• Cures into a hard substance with properties
similar to those of cancellous bone
 3.POLYMERS

The most commonly used are

polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) bone cement
and ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) for acetabular cups.
 Microstructure and manufacture
• Many repeating units of a
basic sequence (monomer)
• By addition or condensation
polymerization
• As the molecular weight of
any polymer increases, shear
strength, tensile strength and
wear resistance also increase.
 PMMA Bone cement
• Used to fix in place orthopedic prosthesis
• available as a liquid (N,N-dimethyltoluidine
and hydroquinone) and a powder (PMMA
copolymer, barium or zirconium dioxide and
benzoyl peroxide)
• Stages of reaction :
• Sandy stage
• Mixture stage
• Cement is doughy and doesn’t stick to glove
 UHMWPE
• Polyethylene polymer with at least 3 million
units.
• Formed by condensation polymerization and
sintering (fusing) of the polyethylene fine
granular powder
• Addition of calcium stearate to prevent
yellowing.
• Sterilized by radiation and not by autoclave
 references
• www.orthobullets.com basic
science/9062/material properties
• www.orthobullets.com basic science/9061/
structural properties.
• Ramachandran basic science ,biomaterial chap
18, pg 154-163