Biocompatible Metals for Skeletal Fixation and Joint Replacement Devices

Dear Colleagues,

Surgical Grade 5 Titanium (Ti-6Al-4V) is the standard of care material for metallic implants, used in hundreds of thousands of clinical implants annually. In addition to titanium, many other metals are gaining attention for their advantageous mechanical or resorbable properties. Both stress shielding of replaced or fixated bone, or stress concentrations in the device itself, are thought to be a common cause of short or long-term device failure. Less stiff metals such as nitinol (NiTi) are thought to be good candidates for fixation, joint replacement, and other devices because of their lower stiffness as well as their superelastic properties. Other metals, including magnesium (Mg) alloys that can resorb in a controlled and safe fashion, are also being studied as a means of providing skeletal fixation and to avoid long term stress shielding and stress concentrations. The metallurgy needed to form these alloys into biocompatible materials that can be fabricated (molten, solid ingots, or powders for 3D printing), especially if patient-specific designs are desired, present special challenges. This Special Issue of Materials, “Biocompatible Metals for Skeletal Fixation and Joint Replacement Devices”, promises to be a resource to the biomedical and biomaterial communities for some time to come.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. David Dean
Prof. Dr. Mohammad Elahinia
Dr. Jason Walker
Guest Editors

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