Metallic Biomaterials for Medical Applications

Biomaterials, mainly divided into metals and their alloys, polymers, ceramics and natural materials, have been applied widely in the fields of artificial organs, surgical repairs, physical rehabilitation, diagnosis and disease treatments. Biomaterials require great physical and chemical stability, including mechanical strength, elastic modulus, dimensional stability, corrosion resistance, wear resistance, fatigue resistance, non-toxicity, and biocompatibility, to safely dwell in the human body for a long time. Metallic biomaterials, making up over 40% of the biomaterial market, have higher strength, good toughness, higher bending fatigue strength, and excellent machinability, compared with other biomaterials. However, some alloy elements, toxic and biological incompatible, harm the human body and some metals’ mechanical properties don’t match the human body. Therefore, for further improving the biological and mechanical properties of metallic biomaterials, many attempts have been adopted to design novel metallic biomaterials and different advanced processing and preparation technologies have been developed.

The current Research Topic aims to overview the promising, recent, and novel research on design, microstructure characterization, advanced processing, and preparation technologies, and properties of metallic biomaterials to promote the applications in the fields of orthopaedics, dental care, drug delivery, cardiovascular devices.

Original Research and Reviews in the area of metallic biomaterials are welcome, including but not limited to:

• Design, microstructure, and properties of novel metallic biomaterials;
• Porous metallic biomaterials;
• Degradable metallic biomaterials;
• Powder metallurgy technologies for metallic biomaterials;
• 3D printed metallic biomaterials;
• Hot and cold deformation techniques in metallic biomaterials;
• Surface modification for biomaterials.