Bio-compatibility of metallic alloys for body-area communication systems

Mechanical behavior, biocompatibility in body environment and tissues and chemical stability are the most important requirements for the effective application of any bio-implant materials in the human body. Among the known metals and alloys, stainless steels, CoCr alloys and Ti and its alloys are the most widely used materials in such applications. In case of their use, one of the most important engineering approach is to guarantee insignificant biological stress to the human system and to maintain the whole integrity and functionality of the human being. In this paper we pay our attention on the study of the properties of two types of metallic alloys: one of them is a modified CoCr alloy, while the second one is a new generation of TiNb based alloy. The first step of the study is related to the determination of the microstructural and mechanical behavior of the alloys and to assess their chemical stability by the evaluation of their corrosion resistance. The further step will be to evaluate and to control the interaction between the human body and the biomaterial inside the biological environment using an appropriate numerical model. In this way it will be possible to detect the presence of defects in the biomaterial, considering the surface chemistry and its topography, which can control this system leading to regulate in time an inappropriate interface avoiding the removal of the implant for the restoration.