Porous Titanium for Medical Implants

Abstract

Porous titanium and its alloys have shown immense promise as orthopedic and dental implant materials owing to their outstanding properties, namely tailorable porosity, the ability of blood vessels and bone ingrowth, the transport of nutrients and/or biofluids, and vascularization. The previously mentioned properties facilitate osseointegration, a crucial device integration and stability factor. The presented review investigates the influence of pore characteristics of porous titanium and its alloys (e.g., size, shape, interconnectivity, and gradients) on biological response, mechanical properties, and key considerations in scaffold design. Recent literature showed that the progress of porous titanium and its alloys is summarized in biomaterials, specifically the processing techniques utilized in fabricating porous. Accordingly, recent advances in the previously stated processing techniques are powder metallurgy, additive manufacturing, plasma spraying, etc., which are applied in constructing optimized porous architectures. Overall, porous titanium structures with controlled porosity and tailored pore networks can promote bone ingrowth and long-term stability, thereby overcoming the limitations of traditional dense titanium (Ti) implants.