Material
Silicon Carbide Ceramic (SiC)
Silicon carbide materials belong to the category of bio-inert ceramics. They have stable chemical properties, no element dissolution, and no irritation to body tissues in the body. Its biological properties meet the three core indicators of biosafety, biocompatibility and biofunctionality, and are identified as potential materials for bone repair/replacement. Although the material lacks bone induction, it can promote bone bonding by preparing a porous structure and loading active substances such as bone morphogenetic protein 2.
In terms of basic physical properties, silicon carbide has high hardness (second only to diamond), high strength, high temperature resistance (>1600℃) and antioxidant properties, and its elastic modulus matches that of human bone tissue. Industrial application data show that the market size of silicon carbide structural ceramics in the photovoltaic field and biomedical field continues to grow.
The hardness of silicon carbide reaches Mohs 9.2, and the compressive strength exceeds 3GPa. Its thermal expansion coefficient (4.0×10⁻⁶/℃) is close to that of titanium alloy, which reduces the interface stress. In extreme environments, the oxidation resistance temperature reaches 1600℃, the acid and alkali corrosion resistance exceeds 3 times that of alumina ceramics, and the wear resistance is 8-10 times that of cobalt-chromium alloy. Although the elastic modulus (420GPa) is higher than that of cortical bone (20GPa), it can be reduced to 15-25GPa through porous structure design, effectively avoiding the stress shielding effect.