Research Projects

Bone fractures and calvarial defects are common injuries, and traditional implants can cause long-term problems like tissue damage, implant rejection, and infection. Biodegradable implants, such as those made of absorbable metallic materials like Fe, Mg, and Zn, have been developed to address these issues. Mg is more suitable due to its biocompatibility, good mechanical properties, and low modulus. However, tailoring the degradation of Mg implants to the healing rate of the bone or tissue remains a challenge. In recent years, Mg biomaterials have been developed, with some Mg alloy-based products introduced by manufacturers like Biotronik Ltd. and syntellix. However, there is limited advancement in India, and understanding of Mg alloy behavior in-vivo is lacking. A recent sERB project developed Mg-RE-based alloys with excellent tensile and degradation properties, but their degradation rate was higher due to impurities in castings. The work proposes using ultra-high pure raw materials for Mg alloy fabrication and investigating in-vivo behavior in rabbits using calvarial and fracture models. In-vivo studies will use Mg-10Gd-1Zn alloys produced through casting and extrusion, aiming to enhance knowledge and facilitate the development of Mg-based degradable products for biomedical applications.