What are biomaterials?
What are biomaterials?
Biomaterials are materials that are used in biomedical devices. Technically, a biomaterial is a nonviable material used in a medical device, intended to interact with biological systems. These materials can be either natural i.e. biological in origin or man-made. The field of biomaterials has been developing gradually and fields like material sciences and polymer chemistry have contributed to it greatly.
A wide range of materials like metals, ceramics, polymers, glasses, carbons and composite materials can be used as biomaterials. There are certain properties that make these materials useful as biomaterials. Biomaterials should not be toxic. At the same time, they should be biocompatible. Biocompatibility is the ability of a material to perform with an appropriate host response in a specific application. Biomaterials should also have the right mechanical properties of the tissues that they replace.
Common applications of biomaterials are silicone breast implants, artificial heart valves, titanium bones, dental implants, pacemakers, renal dialyzers and intraocular lenses. More recently, researchers succeeded in creating a complete artificial heart made of polymers and titanium.
As a field, biomaterial science is multidisciplinary in approach and draws contributions from a number of fields. It also makes use of a wide variety of materials. A large number of synthetic polymers and natural materials can be used as biomaterials and because of the wide range of materials involved, a thorough understanding of the properties of these materials is very important.
The quest for newer materials that can be used as biomaterials will never end. Discovery of materials like nanotubes will make a huge impact on the field of biomaterials. These new materials will open up new vistas in this field and make possible many revolutionary developments.
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