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Titanium foam could function as replacement bone, investigators report
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Titanium foam could soon be used to replace injured bones with greater effectiveness than the current generation of titanium implants, according to investigators in Dresden, Germany.
The investigators recently announced progress in their TiFoam project, which put together a titanium-based substance for a new generation of implants. The foam-like structure of the substance reportedly resembles the spongiosa found inside the bone.
How it is produced
The foam is the result of a powder metallurgy-based molding process already used in the industrial production of ceramic filters for aluminum casting. Open-cell polyurethane foams get saturated with a solution consisting of a binding medium and a fine titanium powder. The powder cleaves to the cellular structures of the foams, and then the polyurethane and binding agents are vaporized. What remains, the investigators reported, is a semblance of the foam structures. This is then sintered.
“The mechanical properties of titanium foams made this way closely approach those of the human bone,” Peter Quadbeck, PhD, a researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing and Advanced Materials and coordinator of the project, stated in a press release. “This applies foremost to the balance between extreme durability and minimal rigidity.”
According to the release, the bone-like rigidity allows for stress forces to be transmitted. With the new formation of bone cells, it also fosters the healing of the implant.
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Image: Fraunhofer IFAM |
Advantages over current implants
Current titanium implants cannot produce the complex internal structures necessary to properly duplicate bone, resulting in massive titanium implants being primarily used for defects in load-bearing bones. These implants have structured surfaces designed to provide bone cells with support, but the resulting bond is delicate.
Furthermore, the implants currently used are different from the normal human skeleton because they are substantially stiffer and can carry higher loads.
“The adjacent bone bears hardly any load anymore, and even deteriorates in the worst case,” Quadbeck stated. “Then the implant becomes loose and has to be replaced.”
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