Ceramic Toughening Strategies for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Aiming at shortage of metal materials, ceramic is increasingly applied in biomedicine due to its high strength, pleasing esthetics and good biocompatibility, especially for dental restorations and implants, artificial joints, as well as synthetic bone substitutes. However, the inherent brittleness of ceramic could lead to serious complications, such as fracture and disfunction of biomedical devices, which impede their clinical applications. Herein, several toughening strategies have been summarized in this review, including reinforcing phase addition, surface modification, and manufacturing processes improvement. Doping metal and/or non-metal reinforcing fillers modifies toughness of bulk ceramic, while surface modifications, mainly coating, chemical and thermal methods, regulate toughness on the surface layer. During fabrication, optimization should be practiced in powder preparation, green forming and densification processes. Various toughening strategies utilize mechanisms involving fine-grained, stress-induced phase transformation, and microcrack toughening, as well as crack deflection, bifurcation, bridging and pull-out. This review hopes to shed light on systematic combination of different toughening strategies and mechanisms to drive progress in biomedical devices.

A Comprehensive Review on Barium Titanate Nanoparticles as a Persuasive Piezoelectric Material for Biomedical Applications: Prospects and Challenges

“…[34,35] Up recently, ceramic nanomaterials based on perovskite-like oxides have attracted the interest of many research groups for their utility in biomedical applications. [36,37] With high dielectric constant, and excellent ferroelectric properties, barium titanate (BaTiO 3 ) is perhaps one of the most studied compounds of the perovskite family. Biocompatibility, piezoelectric properties, and non-linear optical features are some of the advantages offered by this fascinating material which could be explored for its applicability in different biomedical applications.…”

Three-Dimensional-Printed Molds from Water-Soluble Sulfate Ceramics for Biocomposite Formation through Low-Pressure Injection Molding

“…Crack propagation reflects toughening mechanisms in ceramics. In polycrystalline porous ceramics, the arrest of cracks by pores, crack reorientation, and branching are typical mechanisms of toughening [68]. The addition of zirconia particles induced the formation of pseudoplastic zones around the stressed inclusions, leading to the additional Crack propagation reflects toughening mechanisms in ceramics.…”

“…The addition of zirconia particles induced the formation of pseudoplastic zones around the stressed inclusions, leading to the additional Crack propagation reflects toughening mechanisms in ceramics. In polycrystalline porous ceramics, the arrest of cracks by pores, crack reorientation, and branching are typical mechanisms of toughening [68]. The addition of zirconia particles induced the formation of pseudoplastic zones around the stressed inclusions, leading to the additional deceleration of the crack opening (Figure 12).…”

Reconstruction of Load-Bearing Segmental Bone Defects Using Carbonate Apatite Honeycomb Blocks

“…The block crack suggests that the block was exposed to loads from the bone stumps in the pseudobridging state for a long period. It is difficult for biodegradable ceramics to withstand loads from lead-bearing bone defects owing to their brittleness. − In this study, the CAp HC block with low microporosity is likely to exhibit low osteoconductivity and prolong the pseudobridging state in segmental bone defects, which can lead to unexpected crack formation and loss of the original goal of bone fusion.…”