Ceramic Implant Materials

Abstract

Ceramics are refractory, polycrystalline compounds, usually inorganic, including silicates, metallic oxides, carbides, and various refractory hydrides, sulfides, and selenides. Oxides such as Al2O3, MgO, SiO2, etc. contain metallic and nonmetallic elements. Ionic salts (NaCl, CsCl, ZnS, etc.) can form polycrystalline aggregates, but soluble salts are not suitable for structural biomaterials. Diamond and carbonaceous structures like graphite and pyrolized carbons are covalently bonded. The important factors influencing the structure and property relationship of the ceramic materials are radius ratios (§2.2.2) and the relative electronegativity between positive and negative ions.