Function Graded (FG) material for hip inplants

Using function graded materials instead of the traditional stems made of Cobalt Chromium alloy and Titanium alloy were developed and tested in vitro with promising results.  When compared to the traditional materials, the newly developed function graded stems used in hip transplants resulted in a reduction in shear stress between the bone cement and stem of implant. One of the advantageous of using function graded material is that it has a more distributed, uniform stress on the bone cement when compared to traditional materials. This is great because it reduces the amount of wear and tear on the replacement system and would really delay the rate of loosening in the hip replacement.  The clinical testing of a hip replacement stem of function graded material is promising and may lead to over all better hip replacements. I found this article interesting and found it of a particular interest to me with my want to become to an orthopedic surgeon.

 http://www.biomedical-engineering-online.com/content/12/1/5