Bioabsorbable and Permanent Materials for Highly Loaded Implants

Dear Colleagues,

Factors like the ongoing significant demographic change with an increasing number of elderly people who want to be active as long as possible, new sports with high risk for injury, physical inactivity, overweight, and allergies trigger an enormous demand from society and industry for innovative biomaterials with superior properties. These biomaterials include permanent ones, like pure titanium or titanium alloys, as well as bioabsorbable ones, like magnesium alloys, all providing the necessary stabilizing function in the healing time after implantation. Especially bioabsorbable implants attract high medical interest, as they degrade without any harm to the human body after fullfilling their function. These materials offer, therefore, the invaluable advantage that burdensome and costly explantations can be omitted.

Innovations and further improvements are required, especially for highly loaded implants including orthopedic, trauma, craniomaxillofacial, cardiovascular, dental as well as reconstruction implants. In line with these demands, the main focus of this Special Issue is to collect scientific contributions dealing with the development of biomaterials with improved and unique mechanical properties for applications in highly loaded implants, longer implant lifespans and implant miniaturization while maintaining strength.

As an example, with regard to bioabsorbable implants, low-alloyed Mg–Zn–Ca alloys are very promising materials due to their high biocompatibility and slow and homogenous degradation behaviour. However, their strength is limited due to only very weak solid solution and precipitation hardening. Therefore, the low strength of lean Mg-alloys has to be compensated by systematic alloy development and thermomechanical processing using conventional and severe plastic deformation methods. Scientific contributions to other bioabsorbable metals, such as iron and zinc alloys, as well as to nonmetallic materials are also very welcome.

There is also a great need for research to improve the mechanical properties of permanent implant materials. In general, strength improvements combined with high ductility enable materials to withstand higher loads or implants to be miniaturized under a given load. One research goal in this context is, for example, the following one: In order to be able to replace the widely used high-strength Ti–6Al–4V alloy, containing the problematic alloying elements aluminium and vanadium, the strength of the much more biocompatible pure titanium has to be increased to a similar level using suitable processing methods.

Finally, as the biointerface plays a critical role in implant–tissue interactions, contributions to implant coating strategies and their effects on the implant biofunctionality and corrosion behaviour are equally highly welcome. 

It is my pleasure to invite you to contribute your research articles, communications or reviews to this Special Issue.

Dr. Bernhard Mingler
Guest Editor

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• Bioabsorbable and permanent biomaterials
• Mg alloys
• Pure titanium, titanium alloys
• Highly loaded implants
• Mechanical properties
• Severe plastic deformation
• Biofunctional coatings