Materials Design for the Titanium Scaffold Based Implant

Forged to heal: The role of metallic cellular solids in bone tissue engineering

Metallic cellular solids, made of biocompatible alloys like titanium, stainless steel, or cobalt-chromium, have gained attention for their mechanical strength, reliability, and biocompatibility. These three-dimensional structures provide support and aid tissue regeneration in orthopedic implants, cardiovascular stents, and other tissue engineering cellular solids. The design and material chemistry of metallic cellular solids play crucial roles in their performance: factors such as porosity, pore size, and surface roughness influence nutrient transport, cell attachment, and mechanical stability, while their microstructure imparts strength, durability and flexibility. Various techniques, including additive manufacturing and conventional fabrication methods, are utilized for producing metallic biomedical cellular solids, each offering distinct advantages and drawbacks that must be considered for optimal design and manufacturing. The combination of mechanical properties and biocompatibility makes metallic cellular solids superior to their ceramic and polymeric counterparts in most load bearing applications, in particular under cyclic fatigue conditions, and more in general in application that require long term reliability. Although challenges remain, such as reducing the production times and the associated costs or increasing the array of available materials, metallic cellular solids showed excellent long-term reliability, with high survival rates even in long term follow-ups.

Production and Characterization of the Third-Generation Oxide Nanotubes on Ti-13Zr-13Nb Alloy

In the group of vanadium-free titanium alloys used for applications for long-term implants, the Ti-13Zr-13Nb alloy has recently been proposed. The production of a porous layer of oxide nanotubes (ONTs) with a wide range of geometries and lengths on the Ti-13Zr-13Nb alloy surface can increase its osteoinductive properties and enable intelligent drug delivery. This work concerns developing a method of electrochemical modification of the Ti-13Zr-13Nb alloy surface to obtain third-generation ONTs. The effect of the anodizing voltage on the microstructure and thickness of the obtained oxide layers was conducted in 1 M C₂H₆O₂ + 4 wt% NH₄F electrolyte in the voltage range 5–35 V for 120 min at room temperature. The obtained third-generation ONTs were characterized using SEM, EDS, SKP, and 2D roughness profiles methods. The preliminary assessment of corrosion resistance carried out in accelerated corrosion tests in the artificial atmosphere showed the high quality of the newly developed ONTs and the slight influence of neutral salt spray on their micromechanical properties.