Sintering and characterization of ceramic composite materials for HIP implants

Millions of people all over the world undergo hip replacement due to accidents, infections and deformity. The materials used for this implant are 316L stainless steel, but this material fails catastrophically due to corrosion and fatigue and also young’s modulus of bone is different from steel there is a mismatch resulting in implants loosening, due to which implant material fails within ten years, in order to increase the life time of the implants recently ceramic materials are synthesized as an alternate material for hip implants. Another advantage of ceramic material it can be tailor made similar to human bone. In this research alumina, zirconia and Hydroxyapatite HAP along with PVA are used for make implant materials. The top down approach is used for converting the above material into macro level using ball milling technique. After this process it is mixed to form a composite material. A die and punch is designed and manufactured to test the mechanical characteristics and metallurgical properties of the implant material. The implant material is sintered for 2 hrs. at 1580oC and cylindrical specimens are formed. They are cooled and tested for strength, fatigue and corrosion [1]. The results show excellent properties mechanical properties it is also biocompatible. The samples fabricated using sintering machine was having high strength and fracture toughness.