Use of titanium materials in medical engineering
Unalloyed titanium and titanium alloys have been used for years in medical engineering for a wide range of applications, some examples of which are listed below.
- joint replacement parts for hip, knee, shoulder, spine, elbow and wrist,
- bone fixation materials such as nails, screws, nuts and plates,
- dental implants and parts for orthodontic surgery and dental prosthetics,
- heart pacemaker housings and artificial heart valves,
- surgical instruments for heart and eye surgery,
- components in high-speed blood centrifuges.
Materials used in permanent human implants need to be biocompatible, corrosion-resistant, tissue-compatible, vital and elastic. Titanium materials successfully comply with these requirements.
Unalloyed titanium grades are largely used for implants and other parts which do not have to cope with high loads in the human body, while titanium alloys predominate in applications for endoprotheses and surgical instruments.
In the field of dental engineering, both commercially pure titanium grades 3.7025 and 3.7035 and titanium alloys such as TiAl6V4 (3.7165) are used in implants and for dental prostheses. One advantage of titanium materials in this field is that they are completely neutral in taste and represent an excellent alternative for patients who suffer from allergic or toxic reactions to various other dental alloys. Titanium´ s corrosion behavior also recommends it highly for dental applications.
The previously used titanium alloy TiAl6V4 continues to be used in medical engineering, but in some applications efforts are being made to replace vanadium, which is toxic in the elementary state, with suitable elements which are compatible with the human body. In the titanium alloy TiAl5Fe2.5 this has been achieved by substituting iron without any negative impact on the alloy´ s good static and dynamic properties.
In addition, recent years have seen the increasing use of titanium alloys as implant materials.
The constantly increasing importance of titanium-base materials as implant materials has been repeatedly highlighted at numerous symposiums, and the findings of appropriate studies have been made public.
In this connection we also draw attention to corresponding publications.
Deutsche Titan, Nov. 2000