The application of advanced ceramic materials for medical field

From February 11th to 13th, Kyocera Japan exhibited its extensive advanced ceramic technology at the MD & M West, Anaheim Medical Device and Technology Exhibition in Anaheim, California, USA, Kyocera has a record of 60 years for customized engineering solutions and will continue to use its unique ceramic "superhero" materials to help companies advancing the latest medical technology. Below is a brief introduction to relevant examples of advanced ceramic materials in the medical field

Dental restoration materials

For the application of ceramics in medicine, The first thing for most people think of is ceramic teeth. Zirconia ceramics, as an oral all-ceramic restoration material, have advantages in terms of biocompatibility, chemical stability, flexural strength, and color. This technology has been in use for more than 240 years since the French scholar Duchateau adopted ceramics as dentures in 1774.

Zirconium oxide ceramics as an oral repair material have the following advantages :

1. Corrosion resistance, good chemical stability, non-toxic, non-allergenic to the human body;

2. The strength is high enough, and the toughness is the highest among advanced ceramic materials at room temperature;

3. With low thermal conductivity, which can be adjusted in the oral cavity without damaging bone tissue due to overheating;

4. It does not produce galvanic, and is convenient for postoperative observation, and does not affect the patient's MRI examination

5. Compared with traditional metal materials, artificial materials that can reproduce the shape of natural teeth to the greatest extent can achieve the best aesthetic coordination relationship with the gingival mucosa.

The ceramics for artificial joints

After more than a century of development, artificial hip joint replacement has become one of the standard operations for the treatment of hip joint diseases. Technical ceramic materials were first applied to artificial hip replacement by a French doctor Boutin from the 1970s.  The first-generation ceramics in alumina applied at the period because it has better wear resistance than traditional metal and polyethylene materials. However, the early alumina ceramic total hip joints had problems in the quality of ceramic materials, the fixation of the ceramic acetabulum on the pelvis, and the connection between the ceramic head and the femoral stem prosthesis, so they were not promoted clinically.

By the 1980s, improvements in material quality and processing technology, and further developments in ceramic design, made second-generation alumina components having better wear resistance.

Until now, the superior wear resistance of ceramic materials can prolong the life of artificial joints, and the expected service life of ceramic and ceramic joints is more than 20 years.

Ceramic components for implantable medical devices

Many electronic medical devices now contain ceramic components such as pacemakers, shock defibrillators, cochlear implants, hearing devices, drug delivery devices, and neurostimulators. Industrial ceramics have better continuous wear resistance, higher toughness and pressure resistance than other materials, as well as excellent chemical resistance and high resistance, especially in high-temperature environments, which is very suitable for medical equipment. CeraPure alumina ceramics and zirconia ceramics manufactured by CooksTek Corporation of the United States have obtained the US patent six licenses for medical devices. Among them, CeraPure alumina can be pressed, extruded, cast or cast. Because the product has high-temperature resistance, it is very suitable for medical instruments that need to be sterilized. In addition, CeraPure alumina is also a good electrical insulator with strong thermal shock resistance and does not react with, or rarely reacts with, biological materials in the environment. CeraPure alumina reinforced alumina (ZTA) is resistant to extreme impact and has a high flexural strength, which can be used for parts that require bending.