Recent Research and Development in Porous Alumina Ceramics for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Alumina is a bioinert ceramic with adequate mechanical properties for manufacturing of medical devices. In biomedical field, porous alumina scaffold is used for cell loading and bone grafts due to their good biocompatibility, inertness and chemical stability. Porous alumina can be prepared by a variety of methods involving starch consolidation, extrusion, fused deposition modeling (FDM), freeze drying, gel casting, magnetron sputtering and protein foaming. These techniques will produce porous alumina bodies that closely mimic with the structures of trabecular bone. Calcium phosphate coatings are an effective way to enhance the bioactivity ability of the porous alumina. The present paper gives an overview of various recent synthetic methods used to prepare porous alumina and their applications, especially for bone regeneration