Gr23 Titanium Is Increasingly Used in Medical Applications
Apr 07, 2024
Gr23 titanium in transplantation applications
Artificial joints and artificial bone replacement materials should have the following basic properties: lightweight and high-strength materials, biocompatibility, corrosion resistance, tissue reactions occurring in the body of the implant do not cause material deterioration, fatigue caused by repetitive stress, breakage, and other properties. The most important properties of metal implants are formability, machinability and polishability, which must remain functional during the expected lifetime and not deteriorate when subjected to fatigue, abrasion, corrosion and impact loads, titanium and titanium alloys meet all of these requirements. The earliest artificial joint materials used, such as dentine powder, polypropylene, and Plexiglas, were low in strength, easy to fracture, and poor in biocompatibility. Later changed to stainless steel, but the specific gravity of stainless steel is larger, about 2 times the specific gravity of human bones, and in the body by the body fluids will be corroded and fracture.Co-Cr alloy is also an excellent artificial joint materials, but unfortunately, cobalt, chromium elements are toxic to the human body. Titanium and titanium alloys, on the other hand, are ideal artificial joint materials because of their small specific gravity (similar to that of human bone), high strength, good mechanical processing, and excellent corrosion resistance.



The titanium materials specified for use in surgical graft materials are mainly pure titanium and Ti-6Al-4VELI alloy. Recently, the graft materials Ti-6Al-7Nb and Ti-13Nb1-13Zr, which have good affinity with the human body, have also gained the approval of ASTM standard. With titanium as artificial bone, cells can be regenerated on it, bones can grow, titanium and human bone, epithelium, connective tissue have good affinity. In order to improve the surface quality of the implant material connected with human bone, the bioceramic layer on the roughened surface is also a more effective method. At present, titanium and titanium alloy have been widely used in artificial bone joints, artificial bone, joint foot plate, broken bone fixator, intramedullary nails, artificial heart valves, skull and so on. According to statistics, China's annual demand for titanium alloy artificial joints more than 5,000 sets, the clinical application of good results.
Titanium in orthopedic applications
Medical titanium alloy modulus of elasticity than stainless steel is closer to the human skeleton, suitable for human orthopedic surgery. In orthopedic surgery, most of the use of titanium-nickel shape memory alloy. Research shows that NT-SMA is a new material integrating wear resistance, corrosion resistance, shape memory effect, pseudo-elasticity and acoustic damping, etc., and its application in orthopaedics is becoming more and more extensive. In addition to commonly used bone grafting plates, intramedullary pins, internal fixation of the mandible, correction of scoliosis, etc., the Shanghai Changhai Hospital has carried out a series of design and clinical application of NT-SMA, such as NT-poly-patellar device, NT-curved forks nails, NT-archer, NT-flyfly device, NT-flapfly device, and NT-archer. device, NT-Flyer (designed for sacral reconstruction), etc., and have achieved satisfactory curative effects. For titanium alloy materials applied to the human body, countries are still making continuous efforts to explore and seek for safer and more reliable new titanium alloys for the benefit of people all over the world.
Titanium in the pharmaceutical industry applications
Titanium is mainly used in the pharmaceutical industry to make containers, reactors and heaters. Pharmaceutical production, equipment often have to contact hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, sulfuric acid and other inorganic acids, organic acids and their salts, equipment is often damaged due to corrosion, while steel equipment due to iron ion contamination affects the quality of the product, the use of titanium equipment can solve these problems. For example, penicillin esterification kettle, saccharification tank, chloramphenicol film evaporator, anacin reactor, mithril filter, dimethyl sulfate cooler, liquid filter, etc., there are precedents of titanium selection, the quantity and quality of the produced liquid is constantly improving, and the quality is in full compliance with the provisions of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia.
Application of titanium in medical devices
Titanium and titanium alloys have good corrosion resistance, titanium is non-toxic, non-magnetic, is a good choice of materials for medical devices. In the history of the development of surgical instruments, the first generation of surgical instruments made of carbon steel, due to electroplating performance can not meet the requirements of clinical use and eliminated. The second generation of austenitic, ferritic and martensitic stainless steel surgical instruments, but the stainless steel composition of chromium has toxicity, shedding of chromium-plated layer of the human body has a certain impact, therefore, the emergence of the third generation - titanium surgical instruments. Titanium has a light weight characteristics, making it particularly suitable for microsurgery. Titanium has corrosion resistance, good elasticity, no deformation, etc., resistant to repeated cleaning, disinfection of the surface quality is not affected; non-magnetic, able to exclude the tiny, sensitive implantation of electronic devices threatened by the destruction of such characteristics, so that the titanium surgical instruments are more and more widely used. Currently has been used to make surgical blades, hemostatic forceps, scissors, electric bone drill, forceps and so on. In the medical equipment titanium vascular suture needle, sternal suture, cardiac surgery equipment, one of the oxygen filter titanium filters, electrocardiogram machine with titanium electrodes, in vitro culture machine with titanium incubator; medical ultrasound crusher probe, blood transport box automatic controller, and for ophthalmology titanium surgical instruments, etc., the use of titanium instruments, etc., the use of the current situation are good.







