Biomedical composites

Abstract

Metallic, polymeric, and ceramic biomaterials have their advantages for implants and medical devices. However, they also have respective limitations for applications in the biomedical field. Biomedical composites formed by combining selected biocompatible metals, polymers, and ceramics can provide significantly improved properties or new, unique properties for targeted biomedical applications. New medical technologies also require particular properties that metals, polymers or ceramics do not possess but new biomedical composite(s) can offer. Compared to modern biomaterials developments for implantable metals, biomedical polymers and bioceramics, developing biomedical composites has a relatively short history. However, due to unmatchable advantages of using composites for implants and medical devices, biomedical composites have now been widely investigated and developed for many areas in the medical field, ranging from orthopedics, dentistry, drug delivery, etc. to frontier technologies such as cancer theranostics. This article provides fundamentals in composites science and technology and covers the design of composite materials for biomedical applications. It also presents the use of composites in selected areas of the medical field.