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DEVELOPMENT OF A HIGH PURITY ZIRCONIA MATERIAL QUALIFIED FOR BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS

Objective


The effectiveness of the purification process developed within the project is excellent, leading to a decontamination of 80 - 100 %. In addition it has been demonstrated that GSP process is suitable for production of high purity zirconia powders. But besides purity and reliability of precursor salts, production parameters still have to be optimized in order to achieve a chemical purity required for biomedical applications.

The use of coprecipitated powders for the production of Y-TZP for biomedical applications is less favourable than the use of yttria coated zirconia powders due to the enormous strength degradation after hydrothermal treatment. A further disadvantage of Y-TZP based on coprecipitated powders is their corrosion layer on the surface after hydrothermal treatment. Y-TZP based on yttria coated zirconia powders show excellent mechanical strength values even after hydrothermal treatment and good reliability. No strength loss was observed after ageing type B material for 1 year at 37 °C in Ringer's.

High chemical and radiochemical purity zirconia does not elicit carcinogenic effects on C3H10T(1/2) cell line. Furthermore oncogenic effects were never observed at the site of implant or on distant organ after implantation of ceramic cylinders and of porous parts. Radiographically tumors were never scored. High chemical and radiochemical purity zirconia investigated within this project does not have transforming powder 'in vitro' and 'in vivo'. High purity zirconia qualified within this project can be considered qualified for biomedical applications.
The proposed research is directed to develop a high purity zirconia powder and the production of Y-TZP ceramics with high strength (1000 MPa) and toughness (9 MPam 1/2).

Critical attention will be paid to the chemical and radiochemical impurities during the powder production process. The impurities will be reduced to a minimum level in order to qualify the material for biomedical applications. The mechanical properties will be investigated after sintering and aging in Ringer's solution with critical assessment to the hydrothermal decomposition reaction. The resistance of the new Y-TZP material against the hydrothermal decomposition will be enhanced by a new powder processing and preparation process.

To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed material, selected powders from the market will be compared to purified powders prepared within the project. For the purirication the powder will be set up by the chemical and radiochemical point of view following these ways:

- Selection of chemical precursors to be used in the powder production process

- Development of methods for removing impurity elements from the precursors

After screening of the material properties including the hydrothermal decomposition behaviour, chemical and radichemical purity, the selected material will be qualified by biological experiments.

Call for proposal

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Coordinator

CERASIV GMBH
EU contribution
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Address

7310 PLOCHINGEN
Germany

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Participants (3)