Human joints suffer from degenerative diseases such as arthritis leading to pain or loss in function. The degenerative diseases cause a decrease in mechanical properties of the bone owing to excessive loading or absence of normal biological self-healing process. Artificial biomaterials are the solutions for these problems.
Load bearing applications such as hip or knee prosthesis should possess appropriate mechanical properties (mechanical values are targeted near the bone) and high corrosion resistance, should not cause any allergic or inflammatory reactions in the human body for long period without rejection an implant. Also, it is desirable that surface of implant integrate with the adjacent bone for osseointegration. The most suitable metallic implant material that provides these attributes is Ti and its alloys. Studies on this subject have been continuing to increase the compatibility of the mechanical and biocompatibility properties of Ti alloys with bone.
