BIOMATERIALS

MECHANICAL , PHYSICAL & CHEMICAL

PROPERTIES OF BIOMATERIALS

Lecture: 5
 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

• Many materials, when in service are

subjected to forces or loads
• In such situations it is necessary to
know the characteristics of the
material and to design the member
from which it is made such that any
resulting deformation will not be
excessive and fracture will not occur.
• The mechanical behavior of a
material reflects the relationship
between its response or deformation
to an applied load or force
 STRESS-STRAIN DIAGRAMS

• The internal resistance of the material to counteract the applied load is

called stress, and the deformation as strain.

THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF STRESSES

1. TENSILE STRESS: force acts to pull materials apart;

2. COMPRESSIVE STRESS: the force squeezes material;

3. SHEAR STRESS: the force causes one part to slide on another part
If D and E points are too close(brittle
material)

If D and E points are far apart(Ductile

material)
PRINCIPAL MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

• Those characteristics of the materials which describe their behavior under

external loads are known as Mechanical Properties.

THE MOST IMPORTANT AND USEFUL MECHANICAL

PROPERTIES ARE

1. STRENGTH It is the resistance offered by a material when subjected to

external loading. So, stronger the material the greater the load it can
withstand. Depending upon the type of load applied the strength can be
tensile, compressive, shear or torsional. The maximum stress that any
material will withstand before destruction is called its ultimate
strength .
2. ELASTICITY of a material is its power of coming back to its original
position after deformation when the stress or load is removed.
• Elasticity is a tensile property of its material.
• The greatest stress that a material can endure without taking up some
permanent set is called elastic limit

3. PLASTICITY The plasticity of a material is its ability to undergo some

degree of permanent deformation without failure. Plastic deformation
will take place only after the elastic range has been exceeded.
• Plasticity is an important property and widely used in several mechanical
processes like forming, shaping, extruding and many other hot and cold
working processes.
• In general, plasticity increases with increasing temperature and is a
favourable property of material for secondary forming processes.
Due to this properties various metal can be transformed into different
products of required shape and size.
• This conversion into desired shape and size is effected either by the
application of pressure, heat or both
4. DUCTILITY of a material enables it to draw out into thin wire on application of the
load.
• Mild steel is a ductile material.
• The wires of gold, silver, copper, aluminium, etc. are drawn by extrusion or by pulling
through a hole in a die due to the ductile property.
• The ductility decreases with increase of temperature.

5. MALLEABILITY of a material is its ability to be compressed into thin sheets without

cracking by hot or cold working.
• Aluminium, copper, tin, lead, steel, etc. are malleable metals.
• Lead can be readily rolled and hammered into thin sheets but can not be drawn into
wire.
• Ductility is a tensile property, whereas malleability is a compressive property.
Malleability increases with increase of temperature
6. BRITTLENESS The brittleness of a material is the property of breaking
without much permanent distortion.
• There are many materials, which break or fail before much deformation
take place. Such materials are brittle e.g., glass, cast iron Therefore, a
non-ductile material is said to be a brittle material.
• Usually the tensile strength of brittle materials is only a fraction of their
compressive strength.
• A brittle material should not be considered as lacking in strength. It only
shows the lack of plasticity.
• On stress-strain diagram, these materials don’t have yield point and value
of E is small
DUCTILE MATERIAL BRITTLE MATERIAL
7. TOUGHNESS The toughness of a material is its ability to withstand both
plastic and elastic deformations.
• It is a highly desirable quality for structural and machine parts to
withstand shock and vibration.
• Manganese steel, wrought iron, mild steels are tough materials. For Ex: If
a load is suddenly applied to a piece of mild steel and then to a piece of
glass the mild steel will absorb much more energy before failure occurs.
Thus, mild steel is said to be much tougher than a glass.
• Toughness is a measure of the amount of energy a material can absorb
before actual fracture or failure takes place. “The work or energy a
material absorbs is called modulus of toughness” Toughness is also
resistance to shock loading. It is measured by a special test on Impact
Testing Machine.
8. IMPACT STRENGTH It can be defined as the resistance of the material
to fracture under impact loading, i.e., under quickly applied dynamic
loads. Two standard tests are normally used to determine this property.

1. THE IZOD IMPACT TEST.

2. THE CHARPY TEST.

9. RESILIENCE is the capacity of material to absorb energy elastically.

• On removal of the load, the energy stored is released as in a spring.
• The maximum energy which can be stored in a body up to elastic limit is
called the proof resilience.
• The quantity gives capacity of the material to bear shocks and vibrations.
The strain energy stored in a material of unit volume gives proof
resilience and is measured by work stretching.
10. HARDNESS is closely related to strength.
• It is the ability of a material to resist scratching, abrasion, indentation, or
penetration. It is directly proportional to tensile strength and is measured
on special hardness testing machines by measuring the resistance of the
material against penetration of an indentor of special shape and material
under a given load.
• The different scales of hardness are Brinell hardness, Rockwell hardness,
Vickers's hardness, etc. Hardness of a metal does not directly relate to the
hardenability of the metal. Hardenability is indicative of the degree of
hardness that the metal can acquire through the hardening process. i.e.,
heating or quenching.
11. HARDENABILITY is the degree of hardness that can be imparted to
metal by process of hardening. A metal capable of being hardened
throughout its structure is said to have high hardenability. The material is
heated above a certain temperature and then suddenly quenched in a cold
oil or water bath
• WEAR is a process that involves the
interactions between surfaces and, more
specifically,
• The removal and deformation of material from
a surface as a result of mechanical action of the
contacting object through motion.

• FRICTION is the force that opposes the

motion of an object.
• To stop a moving object, a force must act in the
opposite direction to the direction of motion.
For instance, if you push your book across your
desk, the book will move. The force of the push
moves the book. As the book slides across the
desk, it slows down and stops moving. The
force that opposes the motion of an object is
called friction.
• EROSION is a process that can happen in many different ways.
Sometimes rocks will hit against the side of the river and cause
erosion. Sometimes rocks hit against each other and cause each other
to erode. Sometimes erosion is chemical and causes rocks to dissolve.
 FATIGUE AND FATIGUE TEST
• The fatigue strength of a material is the maximum stress at which failure
may occur after a certain number of cyclic load applications.
• A component is designed to give a certain length of service under a
specified loading cycle.
• The fatigue strength of material is used in the design of parts subjected to
repeated alternating stresses over an extended period of time.
• Specimens are tested to failure using different loads.
• The number of cycles is noted for each load.
• The results of such tests are plotted as graphs of applied stress against the
logarithm of the number of cycles of failure.
• The curve is known as S-N curve.
• The tests are carried out on special fatigue testing machines.
 CHEMICAL PROPERTIES

• One of the main factors, which determine the durability of a material, is

its chemical stability.
• Material should not dissolve, erode or corrode, nor should they leach important
constituents into oral fluids.
• The human body atmosphere is harsh and may cause corrosion of biomaterials.
On account of this fact, the biomaterials’ chemical stability becomes a relevant
factor as regards biocompatibility
• Corrosion products may cause adverse reactions to the implant neighborhood.
• Body fluids are in balance with specific ions under normal physiological
conditions. When a biomaterial is implanted the concentration of these ions
increases significantly around it and may cause swelling and pain, besides the
fact that the corrosion wastes may migrate to other parts of the body and cause
undesirable reactions, both for the tissues and the implant
• Corrosion of biomaterials alters not only chemical stability, but also affects the
mechanical integrity, with possible premature failure of the material
 The following are the most relevant corrosion types
for different implant materials
1. PITTING CORROSION.
• common form of corrosion that occurs with metallic
(304 SS) implants is pitting.
• It is a form of localized, symmetric corrosion in which
pits form on the metal surface.
• Metals are particularly susceptible to pitting in
environments containing chloride ions, as in tissues,
and it is also enhanced when the oxygen content of the
solution is low.
• Pitting is probably associated also with the stability of
the passive film
• Addition of molybdenum reduces pitting tendency.
• Other treatments for enhancing pitting resistance
include nitrogen alloying and controlled cold working.
• Titanium is resistant to pitting.
2. UNIFORM CORROSION
• For a successful implant material, long term uniform corrosion rate is expected to
be less than one micrometer per year.
• Uniform attack refers to the expected corrosion encountered in all metals.
• Titanium-base alloys have lower overall corrosion rates compared to stainless steel
and cobalt chromium alloy

3. GALVANIC CORROSION.
• Usually as a result of dissimilar metals in proximity, is termed as galvanic
corrosion.
• Inappropriate use of metals, e.g., a stainless steel wire in contact with a cobalt or
titanium-alloy femoral stem, a cobalt-alloy femoral head in contact with a
titanium-alloy femoral stem, and a titanium-alloy screw in contact with a
stainless steel plate may result in galvanic corrosion .
• Compositional differences, either between parts because of manufacture from
different master ingots within the same specification limits or because of
deliberate mixing of metals, are the most likely causes of such effects
• Dissimilar metal corrosion is common in orthopedic, dental and other biomedical
uses. Examples: Hip prosthesis with ball made of 316 stainless steel and a socket
of Ti – 6 Al – 4V alloy.
4. CREVICE CORROSION
• Crevice corrosion is definitely the most
prominent form of corrosion.
• This is a form of local corrosion due to
concentration of electrolytes or
changes in pH in a confined space,
such as in the crevices between a screw
and a plate
• Crevice corrosion is commonly
associated with stainless steel
multicomponent devices; it is often
accompanied by severe tissue reaction
to the corrosion products, making
removal of the device necessary.
• The narrower and deeper is the crack,
the more likely crevice corrosion is to
start
• a problem in implants made of: Mo –
containing stainless steels. 316
Stainless steels Co – Cr – Mo alloys
5. STRESS CORROSION CRACKING
• Stress-corrosion cracking is another corrosion-related cause of failure for
some implants which is reported in cases of orthopedic implants made of
stainless steel.
• It is due to residual tensile stresses resulting from deformation (bending)
of an implant.
• It is a phenomenon in which a metal in a certain environment, especially
those rich in chlorides, is subjected to stress and falls at a much lower
level than usual as a result of corrosion
 BIOCOMPATIBLE

• Any material of natural or of synthetic origin

that comes in contact with tissue, blood or
biological fluids, and intended for use in
prosthetic, diagnostic or storage applications
without adversely affecting the living
organism and its components.
• A general term meaning that a biomaterial,
device or construct can be brought into direct
contact with living tissue without:
1. Causing a harmful tissue reaction (pain and
swelling )that could compromise function
2. Causing a systemic toxic reaction
CLASSIFICATION BASED ON BIOCOMPATIBILITY
Biocompatibility is concerned with the
acceptance of an artificial implant by the
surrounding tissues and by the body as a whole
 BIOINERT
• The term bioinert refers to any material that once placed in the human body has
minimal interaction with its surrounding tissue, examples of these are stainless
steel, titanium.
BIOACTIVE
• Bioactive refers to a material, which upon being placed within the human body
interacts with the surrounding bone and in some cases, even soft tissue.
• An ion – exchange reaction between the bioactive implant and surrounding body
fluids – results in the formation of a biologically active carbonate apatite (CHAp)
layer on the implant that is chemically and crystallographically equivalent to the
mineral phase in bone.
• Prime examples of these materials are synthetic Hydroxyapatite
[Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2], glass ceramics Bioglass.

BIORESORBABLE
• Bioresorbable refers to a material that upon placement within the human body
starts to dissolve and slowly replaced by advancing tissue (such as bone).
 CLASSIFICATION BASED ON MATERIAL SOURCE

NATURAL
• AUTOGRAFT – tissue transplanted from another part of the body of the
same individual
• ALLOGRAFT – from a donor of the same species
• XENOGRAFT – from a donor of a different species
• ISOGRAFT – from an identical twin

SYNTHETIC

• METALS
• CERAMICS
• POLYMERS
 IN VITRO AND IN VIVO

• Scientists use different methods of performing experiments in cell cultures,

tissue, and animals in order to find treatments for human diseases and
disorders.
• In vitro and in vivo are terms that describe the two most commonly
experimental approaches used in science.
• In vitro is Latin for “within the glass.” In an in vitro experiment, scientists
take parts of a living organism (cells or tissue, for example) and study them
using Petri dishes, test tubes, or other glassware and lab equipment.
• In vivo is Latin for “within the living.” In an in vivo experiment, scientists
are conducting their studies in whole living organisms.