Overview

The success of a material to be used as a biomaterial in medical devices, apart from biocompatibility, is often related to the ability and ease of the material to be formed into complicated shapes. This chapter provides an overview of biomaterials engineering, paying particular attention on the effect of processing methods on the mechanical properties of biomaterials. The effects of grain refinement in metals and ceramics, molding conditions on polymeric wear, and composite lamination are discussed with the aim of introducing the many interesting materials engineering techniques that have been used to enhance the mechanical properties of biomaterials. The chapter concludes by introducing the concept of tissue engineering as the new wave in biomaterials engineering of tissues and organs.

1.1 Introduction

Biomaterials engineering is concerned with the application of biomaterials science in the design and engineering aspects of medical devices fabrication. Traditionally the study of biomaterials focuses on issues such as biocompatibility, host-tissue reaction to implants, cytotoxicity, and basic structure-property relationships [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. These issues are important. They provide a strong scientific basis for a clear understanding of many successful medical devices such as the mechanical heart valve. However in biomaterials engineering, the manufacturing and processing aspects emerge as a primary concern. While it may be easy to make a one-off laboratory prototype, it is extremely challenging to produce a thousand units of identical devices with good quality control, consistent properties and having...