On November 11-13, Kyocera Corporation of Japan focused on demonstrating its broad range of advanced ceramic technologies at the MD & M West, Anaheim Medical Devices and Technology Exhibition, held in Anaheim, California, as a custom engineering solution A company that has a record of sixty years and will continue to use its unique ceramic "superhero" materials to help advance the latest medical technology Used in the medical field. Next, give a brief introduction of relevant examples of the application of advanced ceramic materials in the medical field.
1. Prosthetic materials
For the application of ceramics in medicine, the first thing that most people think of is ceramic teeth. Zirconia ceramics, as an oral ceramic restoration material, are very advantageous in terms of biocompatibility, chemical stability, bending strength and color. This technology has a history of more than two hundred and forty years since French scholar Duchateau used ceramics as a denture in 1774.
Zirconia ceramics have the following advantages as oral restoration materials:
①Corrosion resistance, good chemical stability, non-toxic, non-allergenic to human body;
②The strength is high enough, and the toughness at room temperature is the highest among ceramic materials;
③ Has low thermal conductivity, can be adjusted in the oral cavity, will not hurt bone tissue due to excessive heat conduction;
④ It does not produce galvanic properties, and it is convenient for postoperative observation, and does not affect the patient's MRI examination;
⑤ Compared with traditional metal materials, artificial materials that maximize the shape of natural teeth can achieve the best aesthetic coordination with gingival mucosa.
2. Ceramics for artificial joints
After more than a century of development, artificial hip replacement surgery has become one of the standard operations for the treatment of hip joint diseases. The ceramic material was first applied by a French doctor Boutin to artificial hip replacement since the 1970s. The wear resistance of the first-generation alumina ceramic products applied at the time is better than traditional metal and polyethylene materials. However, the early alumina ceramic total hip joints had problems in terms of the quality of ceramic materials, the fixation of ceramic acetabulum on the pelvic bone, and the connection of the ceramic head to the femoral stem prosthesis. By the 1980s, the improvement of material quality and processing technology and the further development of ceramic design made the second-generation alumina components have better wear resistance. Up to now, the excellent wear resistance of ceramic materials can extend the life of artificial joints well, so that the expected service life of ceramics and ceramic joints is more than 20 years.
3. Ceramic components that can be used as implanted medical devices
Many electronic medical devices now contain ceramic components, such as pacemakers, shock defibrillators, cochlear implants, hearing devices, drug delivery devices, and nerve stimulators. Industrial ceramics have better continuous wear resistance, higher toughness and pressure resistance than other materials, as well as excellent chemical resistance and high electrical resistance, especially in high temperature environments, and are very suitable for use in medical equipment . CeraPure alumina ceramics and zirconia ceramics produced by CooksTek Corporation of the United States have obtained the US patent level 6 license 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 react with biological materials in the environment. CeraPure Alumina Reinforced Alumina (ZTA) can resist extreme impact and has a high flexural strength, which can be used for parts that need to be bent.