Biomaterials
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Biomaterials
Biomaterials may be natural or synthetic and are used
in medical applications to support, enhance, or replace
damaged tissue or a biological function.
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Classes of Materials Used in
implants
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How many different types of
biomaterials are in use today?
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Fact-
The FDA regulates 100,000 different products that represent at
least 1,700 Different Types of Biomedical Devices
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Broad Classification-
Types of Biomaterials
● Ceramics
● Metals
● Polymers
● Composites
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Ceramics
● Derivation: From the Greek word "keramos" meaning
the art and science of making and using solid articles
formed by the action of heat on earthy raw materials.
● Ceramics are defined as nonmetallic, inorganic, solid
materials.
● Dressman, reported on the use of plaster of Paris, a
ceramic, for filling defects in bone.
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Ceramics
● Ceramics have been regularly used in orthodontic and
orthopedic applications
● Strong ionically/covalently bonded structures, ceramics
are strong and stiff when compared to metals and
polymers
● Ceramics are brittle and susceptible to failure by the
propagation of pre-existing cracks.
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Ceramic Applications
● femoral heads and cup
inserts for ceramic on
polyethylene; or
● ceramic on ceramic hip
replacement bearings;
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Ceramic Applications
● dental-crowns
Also called as porcelain
dental crowns
Ceramic crowns ensures the most
natural appearance of their tooth
restoration.
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Ceramic Applications
● knee prostheses;
● orthopedic instrumentation;
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Ceramics
● Alumina, Zirconium, Calcium phosphate, Silica, pyrrolytic
carbon, hydroxyapatite are common;
● Porous ceramic materials exhibit much lower strengths but have
been found extremely useful as coatings for metallic implants;
● The coating aids in tissue fixation of the implant by providing a
porous surface for the surrounding tissue to grow into and
mechanically interlock; and,
● Certain ceramics are considered bioactive ceramics if they establish
bonds with bone tissue.
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Ceramics
● Porous ceramic materials exhibit much lower strengths but have
been found extremely useful as coatings for metallic implants;
● The coating aids in tissue fixation of the implant by providing a
porous surface for the surrounding tissue to grow into and
mechanically interlock,
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Ceramics
● Porous ceramic materials exhibit much lower strengths but have
been found extremely useful as coatings for metallic implants;
● The coating aids in tissue fixation of the implant by providing a
porous surface for the surrounding tissue to grow into and
mechanically interlock,
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Ceramics
● Bioceramics can be classified into three
categories according to their interaction with
the host tissue:
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Ceramics
● Bioactive Ceramics
• Interact with the surrounding bone and tissues in the body after
implantation.
• Chemical reactions between the bioactive implant and the
surrounding body fluids form active layer equivalent to the mineral
phase in bone
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Ceramics
● Bioresorbable Ceramics
• Bioresorbable materials begin to dissolve once placed in the human
body and are eventually replaced by advancing tissue
• Make direct and strong chemical bonds with tissue
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Ceramics
● Bioinert Ceramics
• Minimal interactions with its surrounding tissue once implanted Make
direct and strong chemical bonds with tissue
• Resistance to corrosion and wear
• High compressive strengths and toughness levels, ranging between
three to five times higher than that of compact bone
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Ceramics
A ceramic sample with a diameter of 10 mm and a length of
30 mm is subjected to a compressive load of 2000 N.
Calculate the compressive strength of the ceramic material.
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Ceramics
A polymer-based biomaterial has an ultimate tensile
strength (𝜎𝑢) of 70 MPa and an elongation at break of 0.3.
Calculate the toughness of the biomaterial using the area
under the stress-strain curve approach. Assume the material
behaves linearly up to fracture.
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Metals
Historical development of metallic biomaterials
● Metal industry began to expand during the Industrial Revolution
● successful until Lister’s aseptic surgical technique was implemented in
the 1860s
● Metallic implants was driven by the demands for bone repair
● Major role in most orthopedic devices, including temporary devices (e.g.
bone plates, pins and screws) and permanent implants (e.g. total joint
replacements)
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Metals
● Closely packed crystal structure; the type of bonding in metals
and metal alloys render them valuable as load bearing implants
as well as internal fixation devices used for orthopedic
applications as well as dental implants;
● when processed suitably they contribute high tensile, fatigue
and yield strengths; low reactivity and good ductility to the
stems of hip implant devices; and,
● Metals are often conductive, hard, opaque, lustrous,
malleable, and shiny materials
* 22
Metals
Metals
Metals
● 4 groups based on the major alloying element
● Stainless Steels
● Cobalt-based Alloys
● Titanium-based Alloys And
● Miscellaneous (E.G. Niti And Alloys Of Mg And Ta)
* 25
Metals
● Essential considerations in design of metallic biomaterials
(1) Excellent biocompatibility (non-toxic)
(2) High corrosion resistance
(3) Suitable mechanical properties
(4) High wear resistance
(5) Osseo-integration (in the case of bone prosthetics)
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Biocompatibility of elements and
selection of alloying elements
● Human body is made up of water, H2O, with cells containing 65–90 wt%
water.
● Approximately 96% of the weight of the body results from the elements
oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen, which are the building blocks of
both water and proteins.
● trace elements or micronutrients: extremely low quantities for the proper
growth, development, and physiology of the body
Non-toxic elements should be selected as alloying elements in
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developing a biomedical alloy 27
Biocompatibility of elements and
selection of alloying elements
● Human body is made up of water, H2O, with cells containing 65–90 wt%
water.
● Approximately 96% of the weight of the body results from the elements
oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen, which are the building blocks of
both water and proteins.
* 28
Biocompatibility of elements and
selection of alloying elements
● Classified in decreasing order of toxicity as follows: cobalt > vanadium >
nickel > chromium > titanium > iron.
● Stainless steel is the generic name for a number of iron-based alloys that
contain a high percentage (11–30 wt%) of chromium and varying
amounts of nickel
* 29
Corrosion of implant materials in the
body
● Corrosion resistance determines the long-term success of a metallic
implants, different parts of the body have different pH values and oxygen
concentrations
● Human body fluids contain around 0.9% saline, solutions of mostly Na+,
Cl- and other trace ions
● Nearly neutral pH value (7.2–7.4 at 37C, and 1 atm of pressure).
● pH value of body fluid may fall to 3–4 when there is inflammation caused
by surgery or injury
● Corrosion resistance should be such that the release of metal ions from
a metallic implant will be minimized in the harshest conditions of the
body
* 30
Mechanical working conditions in the
human body
● The mechanical properties of general importance to biomaterials
development include Young’s modulus, ultimate tensile strength (UTS)
and toughness
The higher modulus of elasticity of the implant may result in its bearing nearly
all the load, however bone that bears less mechanical load can undergo
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biological responses such as atrophy 31
Mechanical working
conditions in the human body
● One complication that can occur from the use of metals in
orthopedic applications is the phenomenon of stress
shielding;
● In some situations, such as hip implantation, the high
strength of the metal in the implant induces it to assume
more than its share of responsibility for the load in that
region;
● This decreases the load born by the surrounding tissue
and therefore shields it from experiencing stress;
● Lack of stress causes bone density to decrease as bone
tissue resorbs, eventually causing complications in the
implant/tissue interface.
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Fatigue strength of metallic
biomaterials
● Human beings normally walk several thousand steps a day at a rate of 1
Hz.
● Skeletal bone implants such as artificial hip joints, knee joints, spinal
fixations, plates and wires suffer from fatigue due to cyclic loading.
● 2000 steps, the total number of steps over 20 years is estimated to be
2000x365 dayx20 years = 107cycles
* 33
Polymers
● Consist of small repeating units strung together in
long chains
● DNA is a polymer for storing genetic information in
thousands upon thousands of repeating sequences
of nucleotides
Polymers
● Hydrophilic
● Hydrophobic
● Biostable
● Biodegradable
● Natural
● Synthetic
Polymers
Chemical structure of natural polymers
Chemical structure of sunthetic polymers
Polyvinyl alcohol
Polylactic acid (PLA)
Poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid
* 44
Polymeric Films
Self-healing mechanism of cationic
chitosan matrix
• Self-healing ability is getting more interest due to their
restoring capacity even after severe deformation.
• Poly(acrylic acid) grafted bacterial cellulose (BC-g-
PAA) based self-healable polyelectrolyte is used for
the wound dressing applications
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Self-healing mechanism of cationic
chitosan matrix
• Self-healing can occur through the ionic bond
formation
• the buffer solution was sprinkled with the cationic
chitosan
• molecules diffuse through the buffer solution and form
an ionic interaction with the anionic filler, i.e.,
modified bacterial cellulose.
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Self-healing mechanism of cationic
chitosan matrix
• Self-healing can occur through the ionic bond
formation
• the buffer solution was sprinkled with the cationic
chitosan
• molecules diffuse through the buffer solution and form
an ionic interaction with the anionic filler, i.e.,
modified bacterial cellulose.
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Self-healing mechanism of cationic
chitosan matrix
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Polymeric Sponges
• Porous nature of the scaffolds finds tissue
engineering applications
• The 3D porous scaffolds provide a 3D structure for
the cell attachment, proliferation and differentiation.
• A 3D biocomposite macroporous scaffold based on
agarose and chitosan was prepared for an in vitro
3D liver tissue model
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Polymeric Sponges
• Hydrated scaffolds exhibited sponge like visco-
elastic behavior without any deformation in the
shape
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Hydrogels
• Hydrogels is 3D network of natural or synthetic
polymers, which can absorb and hold a greater
amount of water
• The polymeric network is formed by cross-linking
polymeric chains with covalent or non-covalent
interactions.
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Hydrogels
• The cross-linking of the hydrogels is performed by
adding the ions like Ca2+, Zn2+, and Mg2+ to the
polymeric monomers.
• The ions can induce the gelation through forming
ionic interactions with the polymeric chains
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Hydrogels
• The swollen 3D structure of
the hydrogels makes the cells
to attach and diffuse easily.
• The hydrogels have similar
structure to the natural soft
tissues, used in the field of
tissue engineering and
regenerative medicine.
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Hydrogels
• Hydrogels have been prepared from natural polymers
known for their application in corneal defects due to
their
• high aqueous environment
• Biocompatibility
• high transparent nature.
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Hydrogels
• Collagen is the most extensively used natural
polymer for the hydrogel preparation
• Collagen with methacrylation and reacted with
PEG-thiols to obtain a biocompatible hydrogel
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Hydrogels
• Collagen is the most extensively used natural
polymer for the hydrogel preparation
• Collagen with methacrylation and reacted with
PEG-thiols to obtain a biocompatible hydrogel
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Hydrogels
• seeded human corneal epithelial cells on the top of
hydrogels and their proliferation was evaluated.
• Day 1, and they demonstrated good attachment and
proliferation of the cells.
• On day 5, the cells were well confluent
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Composite Biomaterials
Composite Biomaterials
• Composite is a combination of two materials
• One of the materials, called the reinforcing phase, is in the form of
fibres, sheets, or particles.
• RP is embedded in the other materials called the matrix phase.
• The reinforcing material and the matrix material can be metal,
ceramic, or polymer.
• The matrix phase serves as the "binder" that holds the reinforcement
phase together, transferring loads between the reinforcing elements
and providing structural integrity.
Composite Biomaterials
• Composite is a combination of two materials
• One of the materials, called the reinforcing phase, is in the form of
fibres, sheets, or particles.
• RP is embedded in the other materials called the matrix phase.
What are the functions of a reinforcement?
1. Contribute desired properties
• Strength • Stiffness • Toughness • Corrosion resistance • Wear
resistance • Reduced weight • Fatigue life • Thermal/Electrical
insulation and conductivity
2. Load carrying capacity
Types of Fibres
1. Advanced Fibres: Fibres with high stiffness and strength
a)Glass b) Carbon c) Organic d) Ceramic
2. Natural Fibres:
a) Animal fibres : Silk , Wool , Spider silk , Camel hair
b) Vegetable fibres : Cotton , Jute , Bamboo , Banana , Flax
c) Mineral fibres i) Asbestos ii) Basalt iii) Mineral wool iv) Glass
wool
What are the functions of a matrix?
1. Holds the fibres together
2. Protects the fibres from environment
3. Protects the fibres from abrasion (with each other)
4. Helps to maintain the distribution of fibres
5. Distributes the loads evenly between fibres
6. Enhances some of the properties of the resulting material and
structural component.
Rule of Mixture
• Used to estimate average composite mechanical and physical
properties
• Depend on volume fraction or weight fraction.
• The density of the composite material can be calculated from the
following rule.
Rule of Mixture
Rule of Mixture
To calculate the volume fraction of each of fiber and matrix basis as follow:-
Rule of Mixture
• Two mathematical expressions have been formulated for the dependence of the
elastic modules on the volume fraction of the constituent phases for a two – phase
composite .
• The elastic modulus in the longitudinal direction is:-
Rule of Mixture
• Two mathematical expressions have been formulated for the dependence of the
elastic modules on the volume fraction of the constituent phases for a two – phase
composite .
Rule of Mixture
A composite material is made from carbon fibers and an epoxy resin. The
volume fraction of carbon fibers is 0.7, and the volume fraction of the matrix
is 0.3. The elastic modulus of the carbon fibers and epoxy matrix are 200
Gpa and 3 Gpa respectively. Calculate the longitudinal elastic modulus of the
composite.
Rule of Mixture
A composite material is made from carbon fibers and an epoxy resin. The
volume fraction of carbon fibers is 0.7, and the volume fraction of the matrix
is 0.3. The elastic modulus of the carbon fibers and epoxy matrix are 200
Gpa and 3 Gpa respectively. Calculate the longitudinal elastic modulus of the
composite.
Rule of Mixture
A composite material is made from glass fibers (reinforcement phase) and a
polyester resin (matrix phase). The volume fraction of glass fibers is 0.6, and
the volume fraction of the matrix is 0.4. The elastic modulus of the glass
fibers and matrix are 70 Gpa and 4 Gpa respectively. Calculate the lateral
elastic modulus of the composite.
Rule of Mixture
Calculate the longitudinal modulus and tensile strength of a
unidirectional composite containing 55 percent by volume of
Sisal fibers in epoxy matrix. The modulus and strength of
fiber is 30 GPa and 600 MPa respectively and the same for
matrix is 3.5 Gpa and 100 MPa respectively.
Rule of Mixture
Advantages of bio-composite
1- Good durability in small to moderate restorations.
2- High biocompatibility.
3- Moderate resistance to wear and corrosion.
5- Provides high fracture toughness.
6- Resistance against fatigue failure
7- Highly compatible with modern diagnostic methods, magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI).
Application of composite bio materials
CARDIOVASCULAR APPLICATIONS
• Cardiovascular devices are therapeutic supports for heart and
blood vessels.
• Thrombus formation is the most critical issue for materials
placed in contact with blood
• hemocompatible composite material: Porous polyethylene
terephthalate (PET), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or
polyurethane (PU)
Application of composite bio materials
Dental restorative materials
• Composite materials are used in clinical practice to restore
anterior and posterior teeth.
• Dental composite consists of a polymeric acrylic or
methacrylic matrix reinforced with ceramic particles.
• The commercial formulations of matrices are mainly based on
bisphenol-A-glycidyldimethacrylate (Bis-GMA);
triethylenglycoldi-metachrylate (TEGDMA) is added to
reduce the viscosity.
Application of composite bio materials
Fixed and removable dental prostheses
• Used to replace one or more teeth, thus restoring the
masticatory, phonetic and aesthetic functions.
• Some composite materials are used as bridges (UHMWPE or
glass fibers reinforced PMMA)
APPLICATIONS IN TISSUE ENGINEERING
• Tissue engineering is cells manipulation to promote the
regeneration of defective natural or organ functions.
• Tissue engineering of bone and cartilage, a composite
consisting of a three-dimensional mesh composed of 80 wt%
polycaprolactone (PCL) fibers with 20 wt% HA particles on
the surface has been evaluated.
ORTHOPEDIC APPLICATIONS
Bone fracture internal fixation devices
• Internal fixation devices are temporarily implanted inside the
body to hold together the bone fragments and promote healing.
• The critical issues associated with metallic internal devices
⮚ metals are exposed to corrosion in the physiological
environment
⮚ Induces stress-shielding phenomenon affecting bone
remodeling and healing process
ORTHOPEDIC APPLICATIONS
Bone fracture internal fixation devices
• Internal fixation devices are temporarily implanted inside the
body to hold together the bone fragments and promote healing.
• The critical issues associated with metallic internal devices
⮚ metals are exposed to corrosion in the physiological
environment
⮚ Induces stress-shielding phenomenon affecting bone
remodeling and healing process
Composites
●A composite material incorporates the desired
characteristics of different materials to meet the
stringent demands of living tissue;
●Most composite designs combine strength and
flexibility by reinforcing a relatively flexible material with a
harder, stronger.
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Bio-inertness vs. Bioactivity
Bioactive materials play a more aggressive
role in the body. While a biocompatible
material should affect the equilibrium of the
body as little as possible, a bioactive material
recruits specific interactions between the
material and surrounding tissue.
Bioactive Materials
● Many total hip implants operations today rely
partially on a porous coating of Hydroxyapatite
(HA), a normal component of bone, to permanently
stabilize the stem of the implant in the bone.
● The coating encourages ingrowth from the
surrounding tissue that interlocks within the pores
much like the pieces of a puzzle lock together.
Commonly Used Biomaterials
Material Applications
Silicone rubber Catheters, tubing
Dacron Vascular grafts
Poly(methyl methacrylate) Intraocular lenses, bone
cement
Polyurethanes Catheters, pacemaker
leads
Stainless steel Orthopedic devices, stents
Collagen (reprocessed) Cosmetic surgery, wound
dressings