HOME > MARKETS SERVED

Biomedical

Tantalum - human body "pro-metal".

Metallic materials are widely used in clinical medicine due to their high suitability for mechanical properties and fatigue resistance, and are suitable for the implantation of bearing components. A variety of metal materials such as stainless steel, titanium-based and cobalt-based alloys have been widely used in clinical practice and have achieved certain therapeutic effects.

However, the complex human environment may lead to corrosion of materials and release of toxic substances, which greatly reduces the biocompatibility of metallic materials. In addition, the elastic modulus of some metal materials is too different from that of human skeletal tissue, which is not conducive to the growth and remodeling of new bone, and easily leads to secondary fractures. These unfavorable conditions limit the application of metallic materials as biomedical materials.

 

1.jpg


Tantalum, a metal material, has excellent mechanical properties and anti-fatigue properties, so it is widely used in clinical practice, especially in the field of orthopaedics, to replace human bone tissue to play a load-bearing role, and has achieved significant clinical effects. In terms of strength, biocompatibility and stability with human tissue, tantalum metal materials have more advantages than artificial implants of traditional metal materials, so the development of tantalum metal in the medical field has broader prospects.

 

The properties of tantalum:


good corrosion resistance

At room temperature, tantalum will not react with hydrochloric acid, concentrated nitric acid or even aqua regia, nor will ordinary inorganic salts corrode it.

 

good biocompatibility

Unlike traditional medical metal materials, biological tissue grows on tantalum after a period of implantation, just as it does on real bone. Therefore, tantalum is also called "metalphile"

 

Appropriate elastic modulus

The elastic modulus of tantalum with special pore structure is between human cancellous bone and cortical bone, and it is especially suitable for bone replacement, joint replacement and human tissue filling.

 

Tantalum Products

 

3.jpg


Tantalum wire

Tantalum can be made into filaments with a diameter of 0.2mm, which can be used as tension-resistant sutures that are easy to sterilize and less irritate surrounding tissues for use in clinical operations.

 

4.jpg


Tantalum flakes

When cracks or fractures occur in the upper and lower limbs or other parts, or nonunion occurs, tantalum metal can be made into tantalum sheets of different shapes and sizes to repair the cracks and nonunions in order to achieve functional healing.

 

5.jpg


Tantalum stent

Due to the strong ductility of tantalum metal, the diameter of the tantalum wire made of it can better adapt to its fluctuation in the artery and achieve precise and rapid release. Some scholars used the coronary artery of a miniature pig as a research model to implant a tantalum wire stent made of tantalum metal into the body. After a period of 6 months of observation, it was found that there was no rejection in the local tissue of the coronary artery after the stent was implanted. , and the neointima showed phasic proliferation changes.

 

6.jpg


Porous Tantalum Joints

Porous tantalum has obvious advantages in the use of joint materials. Because tantalum metal has a certain elasticity, when it interacts with cortical bone, it can produce slight deformation without fragmentation. In addition, the friction coefficient of tantalum metal is higher than that of other materials. The metal is high, so the stability of tantalum metal after implantation is relatively high.

 7.jpg

Tantalum Coated Products

Many metal materials can be used in the medical field because of their unique properties, but their advantages cannot be used in the clinic due to their lack of biocompatibility. Now, we can coat the surface of these metal materials with tantalum metal with strong corrosion resistance and stability, so that those metal materials with unique properties that cannot be used clinically because of low biocompatibility were reused in the clinic.