This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will use Titanium-Tantalum (Ti-TA) alloys, with the objective that these materials will become commercial alloys used in orthopaedic and stinting devices. Ti-30Ta has potential as a highly biocompatible implant alloy with a modulus closer to that of bone (thus mitigating bone shielding), and is potentially less notch-sensitive than standard titanium implant alloys. This project will also demonstrate that advanced powder metallurgy can produce novel titanium alloys that are extremely difficult and prohibitively expensive to produce by other means. Critical material property data of these alloys will be generated that will lead medical device manufacturers to incorporate these alloys into specific devices and to conduct the necessary testing and clinical trials for commercial product release.
The broader impacts from the use of Ti-Ta alloys will enable the development of improved medical devices that will last longer; are less invasive, promote faster patient recovery times and minimize the risk of adverse reactions. Advances in orthopedic and cardiovascular products will also significantly reduce short-term and long-term health care costs associated with such medical conditions and surgical procedures. Ti-Ta materials will also offer advantages for non-biomedical applications, in regard to mechanical properties as well as to shape memory and superelastic properties. For example, such materials can be expected to also offer improved properties such as resistance to corrosion, oxidation and high temperatures. Thus, availability of these alloys will be applicable to a wide variety of industrial, consumer and aerospace products in addition to biomedical applications, resulting in significant commercial potential.
originated when Dynamet Technology Inc. identified that, with the growing prevalence of nickel allergy in the average population, there was a need for a nickel-free alternative to the commonly used nickel containing implant alloys such as stainless steel and Nitinol (nickel-titanium). Dynamet realized that bioinert, nickel-free titanium-tantalum alloys would be attractive alternatives to stainless steel and Nitinol. However titanium-tantalum alloys are very difficult to prepare by conventional methods. Dynamet applied its expertise in the powder metallurgy of titanium and tantalum and in the manufacture of novel implant alloys to develop a powder metallurgy process for producing titanium-tantalum alloys. Several compositions were identified with properties that made them of interest as potential alloys for implantable medical devices. One composition possessed a unique combination of properties that results in a flexible orthopedic implant alloy that maintains healthy bone function by allowing the bone to flex with the implant. Another composition holds promise for the shape memory behavior required for self-deployed stents and could be a nickel-free alternative to Nitinol alloy that is used because of its unique shape memory behavior. Yet another composition could be a replacement for stainless steel used for mechanically deployed stents. Dynamet's novel titanium-tantalum alloys hold promise for a variety of medical wire applications such as guidewires and wires for vascular therapy, cardiac rhythm management pacing systems, cardiac resynchronization/defibrillation systems, endoscopy, orthopedics, dental wire, neuromodulation and neurostimulation:
