UPB Logo
Contact
  • Deutsch
  • English
    • Open Page "Studies"
    • Prospective students
    • Students
    • International students & prospective students
    • School & teachers
    • Open Page "Teaching"
      • Open Page "Profile"
      • Academic Mission Statement
      • Digitalization & E-Learning
      • Open Source
      • Open Page "Teaching"
      • Competence-Oriented Education
      • Exam design
      • Organizing Courses
      • Course Evaluations
      • General Education Requirements
      • Lecture series on sustainability
    • AI in teaching
      • Open Page "Digital Teaching"
      • Digital Teaching
      • Digital learning rooms
      • Digital test formats
      • Digital test formats
      • Digital tools
      • FAQs
      • Open Page "Qualification and service"
      • Higher Education Development Unit
      • Writing Center
      • Internal Professional Development and Further Education
      • Interdisciplinary Cooperation to Improve Quality in Teacher Education (PLAZ)
      • Faculty-Specific Initiatives
      • Internationally Focused Academics
      • Open Page "Educational innovations"
      • Teaching Awards at UPB
      • Fellowship
      • Best-Practices Teaching Symposium
      • Teaching Projects
      • E-Learning Label
      • Open Page "Teaching research networks"
      • DH.NRW
      • Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education
      • Centre for Higher Mathematics Education (khdm)
      • Academic quality
    • Open Page "Research"
      • Open Page "Research profile"
      • Key research areas
      • Interdisciplinary research institutes
      • Research in the faculties
      • Collaborative Research Centres
      • Graduate Programmes and Schools
      • DFG Research Units
      • DFG Priority Programmes
      • ERC Grants
      • Leibniz Prize Winners
      • Heinz Maier Leibnitz Prize Winners
      • Open Page "Academic career"
      • Early career stages
      • Professorship at Paderborn University
      • Job portal
      • University as an employer
      • Open Page "Research funding and services"
      • Funding and application advice
      • Legal advice in research and development
      • Ethics Committee
      • Research Information at UPB
      • Research data management
      • Publication Service of the University Library
      • Open Access Portal
      • Inventions & patents
      • Start-ups and entrepreneurship
      • Network for Interdisciplinary Research
      • Internal grants (Committee for Research and Junior Academics)
      • Open Page "Research culture"
      • Research-Oriented Standards on Gender Equality
      • Gender & Diversity Consulting
      • Ethics committee
      • Good Research Practice
      • Human Resources Strategy for Researchers
    • Open Page "Transfer"
    • Creating together
    • Innovating together
    • Reflecting together
    • Contacts
    • Open Page "International"
    • International Profile
    • International Campus
    • Open Page "University"
      • Open Page "About us"
      • Mission Statement
      • History
      • Important Personalities and Pioneers
      • University Society
      • Alumni
      • Unishop
      • Open Page "Our organisation"
      • University Executive Board
      • Advisory Board
      • Senate
      • Faculties
      • Central University Administration
      • Central research institutes
      • Central operating units
      • Agencies and authorised representatives
      • Anlauf- und Beratungsstellen
      • Universitätskommissionen
      • Open Page "Working at UPB"
      • Vacancies
      • Equality, Compatibility and Diversity
      • Welcome Services
      • Personnel development
      • Scientific career paths
      • Dual Career Service
      • Healthy university
      • Social, sporting and cultural activities
    • Maps & directions
    • Open Page "Faculties"
    • Faculty of Arts and Humanities
    • Faculty of Business Administration and Economics
    • Faculty of Science
    • Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
    • Faculty of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Mathematics
  • Press
Paderborn scientists conduct research into dissolving medical devices
Paderborn scientists conduct research into dissolving medical devices
Contact
  1. Paderborn University
Back to the news list

World Health Day: Bio­de­grad­able im­plants

04.04.2022  |  Research

A contribution from Press Release

Share post on:

  • Share on Instagram
  • Teilen auf Twitter
  • Teilen auf Facebook
  • Teilen auf Xing
  • Teilen auf LinkedIn
  • Teilen über E-Mail
  • Link kopieren

Paderborn scientists conduct research into dissolving medical devices

Whether bone screws, plates or stents – implants are inserted in patients in hospitals throughout Germany every day. However, it is not uncommon for these implants to have to be removed again in a subsequent operation, for example in the case of children and adolescents, whose bones are still growing. But every subsequent operation carries a risk and costs money. In 2010, 180,000 operations were performed in Germany for the sole purpose of removing orthopaedic implants. This makes the removal of implants the fourth most common orthopaedic operation in Germany. One possible solution: stents and co. that degrade after a few weeks or months – depending on the relevant application – and are metabolised by the body. Such medical devices are, however, still rarely used. An interdisciplinary team at Paderborn University is currently working on the development of effective implants.

The challenge is to find materials that are stable enough and last as long as the body needs them in order to heal, and that then degrade easily and, above all, in a controlled manner. Research in the field currently focuses on iron, magnesium and zinc. Pure iron dissolves extremely slowly, and magnesium extremely quickly. Zinc corrodes well, but its low tensile strength often limits its application. Researchers worldwide are searching for the perfect alloy, the optimal implant for the respective application. In addition to the relevant application, biocompatibility (i.e. compatibility with the body), production methods and manufacturing costs also need to be taken into account. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding various projects in the field, a number of which are being carried out in Paderborn.

Putting iron alloys to the test


Iron alloys have been the subject of research at Paderborn University for several years now. In their collaborative work, scientists in the Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry research group and Department of Materials Science have decided to focus on the metal iron. The team is specifically investigating iron-manganese (FeMn) alloys, as pure iron would take far too long to dissolve. “We see enormous potential in iron-manganese alloys, as the combination of mechanical properties, biocompatibility and corrosion rates are promising,” says Dr Adrian Keller. But: Anyone who wants to develop suitable medical materials must also, of course, consider the physiological environment. To this end, body fluids, for example, are simulated and the samples tested in experiments.

In a study (doi.org/10.1002/maco.202112841) recently published in scientific journal ‘Materials and Corrosion’, Paderborn scientist Jingyuan Huang and her colleagues analysed the surface corrosion, i.e. the desired dissolution rate of the material, and fatigue behaviour of the alloy in a simulated body fluid. To simulate the tissue surrounding the bone in the body, they applied a hydrogel to the sample. They found that although this ‘tissue layer’ does not significantly affect the corrosion rate, it does prevent the precipitation of corrosion products, such as oxides and phosphates, on the iron surface.

Proteins influence the corrosion rate


Colleagues from the Department of Materials Science are collaborating with the team from the Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry research group on the production and analysis of novel alloys. For a publication in scientific journal ‘Corrosion Science’ (doi.org/10.1016/j.corsci.2022.110186), the mechanical engineers produced implants using laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). “In this process, metallic powder is deposited on the build platform, layer by layer, and melted locally by a laser. The product is therefore built up layer by layer, enabling the creation of extremely complex, filigree structures with partly new and innovative materials,” explains Dr Kay-Peter Hoyer.

In this study, the researchers compared samples of pure iron with both a rolled FeMn alloy and a sample manufactured by means of LPBF. The LPBF-manufactured FeMn alloys showed the highest corrosion rate. A further focus was on the processes on the surface of the implants. This is because body fluids such as blood plasma contain proteins, for example, which can interact with the surface of the implant. Keller explains: “We discovered that both the microstructure of the implants and the surrounding proteins influence the degradation rate of the alloys. We believe that the LPBF-manufactured samples have more chances of being used in the future.”

Biodegradable implants are therefore nothing new, but more research is still needed in order to develop the perfect device. Scientists from Paderborn are working on this. “This is exactly what makes the research so exciting: there’s still so much to discover, and it’s going to take us time to understand the complex processes – at the interface between the implant and the respective environment, for example. What’s particularly important for me is that this is not just research that’s exciting to work on in the lab, but also research that is relevant for the health of our society,” sums up Keller.

About World Health Day
World Health Day was first declared on April 7, 1954. The aim of the World Health Organization, which officially hosts the day, is to inform the public about health issues. More information can be found on the World Health Day website.

Photo (Paderborn University, Jan Tobias Krüger): Prototypes of a stent made from an iron-manganese-silver composite by the Department of Materials Science using LPBF, with a 1 cent coin for comparison.
Download (143 KB)

Contact

business-card image

PD Dr. Adrian Keller

Technical Chemistry - Research Group Grundmeier

Group leader "Nanobiomaterials"

Write email +49 5251 60-5722
More about the person
business-card image

Dr.-Ing. Kay-Peter Hoyer

Werkstoffkunde

Write email +49 5251 60-3832
More about the person
Universität Paderborn

Warburger Str. 100
33098 Paderborn
Germany

Phone University

+49 5251 60-0
Quick links
  • Cafeteria
  • Online application
  • Library
  • PAUL
  • PANDA
Social networks
Legal notice
  • Imprint
  • Data privacy
  • Whistleblower system
  • Accessibility Declaration