Inert biomedical devices with modular load-bearing function designed with peculiar multi-domain composite microstructures. The reference compositional system is Zirconia-Alumina with a prevailing overall composition of customizable zirconia or alumina. Examples of devices are 3D structures consisting of parts with differentiated functional properties, due to different composition/microstructure/architecture, and further functionalizable ex-post to favor and improve the stabilization of the implantation by newly formed bone in superior quantity and quality. The dual composite microstructure is applicable for other structurally load-bearing devices that require lightness, wear resistance and capable of blocking the aggression of relevant chemical environments.
The peculiar multi-domain composite microstructure is capable of modulating properties normally interfering each other: flexural strength - fracture toughness; stiffness - hardness; ageing. It is therefore able to confer, for example, differentiated and differentiable mechanical properties on the basis of the compositional and granulometric ranges, selected both for the matrix and for the dispersed phase and their relative quantities. The fabrication process of such architecture was developed with conventional methods and commercial raw materials, both at reduced costs. It’s potentially realizable using rapid prototyping technique. Integrity and continuity at the interface between parts with different composition and properties, have been obtained. The differentiability of the compositional ranges expands without apparent limits the expandability of these composites to applications beyond the biomedical one so far taken into greater consideration.