Titanium Alloy, The “Metal Bone” Implanted In The Body

Due to the progress of society and the development of technology, the market share of biological materials has been more and more, and it is still growing at a fast speed. Hard tissue replacement materials, such as artificial teeth, artificial joints and artificial bones, account for an increasing proportion in the field of medical biomaterials and are growing rapidly.

Titanium and titanium alloy materials are widely used in the nuclear industry, chemical and petrochemical, aerospace, sporting goods, dentistry and medical repair. Titanium alloy materials have also been selected as the best materials to replace or repair failed hard tissues (structural biomedical applications).

Pure titanium has good corrosion resistance, but its biocompatibility and comprehensive mechanical properties are poor, its strength is relatively low, and its production cost is also very expensive, but titanium alloys can replace it well.

Titanium alloy can meet the performance requirements better than stainless steel, industrial pure (CP) Nb, Cr-Co alloy, CP-Ta and other materials for medical applications. It has excellent corrosion resistance and low elastic modulus due to the formation of an oxide layer on its surface.

Medical titanium alloy is not only non-toxic, light in weight, high in specific strength, it also has excellent biocompatibility and corrosion resistance, and they can be used as implants implanted in the human body. It is an ideal medical metal material, and titanium is very rich in reserves of the earth's crust, it has the potential for further development, and also an ideal biomedical engineering material with broad application prospects.

At present, pure titanium (TA1, TA2; TA1 is titanium with pure titanium greater than 99.6%, and pure titanium with purity less than 99.6 is TA2) and Ti-6Al-4V, Ti-5Al-2.5Fe, and Ti-6Al-7Nb alloys are widely used in the medical field, but the new β-type titanium alloy has become a hot topic for research on new #medical titanium alloys with better biocompatibility and mechanical compatibility, and is the most potential technology in the field of medical implants.

In the future, the production technology of titanium alloys will develop in the direction of low modulus and high strength. Judging from the development trend, β-type titanium alloys will become the direction of future development and the “leader” of the medical titanium alloy market.

Now, researchers in my country have synthesized Ti-Zr alloys for dentistry with reference to the mechanical properties of Co-Cr alloys and Type IV alloys commonly used in clinical practice, which are expected to become a new titanium alloy for oral repair. In addition, our country has also designed its own TAMZ type (Ti-Al-Mo-Zr, etc.) medical alloy, which has better compatibility and low price, and is suitable for making dental brackets and snap rings.

We believe that with the development of science and technology, our country's research on titanium alloys will be more in-depth and thorough.