Additively Manufactured Tantalum Parts for Orthopedic Applications
This paper provides a brief summary of findings in the scientific and medical literature regarding thebenefits of using tantalum materials in orthopedic applications including use of additive manufacturing
processes. Samples of some of these references are provided below for the reader.
Tantalum has been in use in certain medical applications since the 1940’s and increased in recorded use
through the latter half of the 20 century to the present. For example, numerous articles have been
published that reviewed the use of tantalum in staplesi for ligation; wire for Stentsii; coatings for medical
devicesiii and for orthopedic applications.iv These articles also review the reported attributes in theseapplications such as Tantalum’s inert bioactivity;v antithrombotic property; enhancement ofmacrophage response;vi bactericidal properties.vii
Over the last 25 years, in orthopedic implants, various Stainless steels, Titanium and CoCrMo alloys havebeen diffusion bonded or simply sintered into near net shape or thermally sprayed onto mass-produced
forms, in order to improve fixation of an orthopedic implant.viii These articles also review the attributesof these materials and techniques in these applications.ix
By comparison, the literature referenced below has discussed inert in vivo and in vitro properties ofporous Tantalum and address osseointegration as compared to certain other metals and alloys, andaddress the elastic modulus being similar to subchondral and trabecular bone, and attributes related tostress shielding,x as well as possessing a high coefficient of friction for biomaterials which can result ininitial stabilization of an implant immediately after surgery.xi Specific studies have noted the porous
Tantalum morphology as a framework for bone growth and osteoblast interaction.xii Additional
evidence have indicated that human osteoblasts (cell line hFOB) exhibit potentially six time higher living
cell density on Tantalum as compared to Titanium.xiii Researchers have also discovered that the elastic
modulus of porous Tantalum can be modified over an order of magnitude by changing the porosity
between 27 and 55%.xiii Indeed, as further noted in these articles, some commercial applications havebeen developed with porous tantalum implants that indicate, both in vitro and in vivo, osseointegration,
secure mechanical attachment, biocompatibility, and minimal metal wear, yet providing friction.xiv
Recently there have been reports of using Additive Manufacturing techniques to produce fully dense
open-celled structures for load bearing implants.xv Selective Laser Melting (SLM) specifically has beenshown capable of making structures with high range interconnected porosity. SLM produced tantalum
porous-structure also demonstrated mechanical properties relatively similar to human bone andosseointegration as compared to similar porous Ti-6Al-4V structures. One conclusion reached from thiswork was that “laser-melted tantalum shows excellent osteoconductive properties, has higher
normalized fatigue strength and allows for more plastic deformation due to its high ductility.”xviiKylberg F. The use of tantalum clips in general surgery. Acta Chir Scand. 1975; 141(3): 242-4.
Chandler, Harry, (ed). 1998. Metallurgy for the Non-Metallurgist, First Edition, p. 65. ASM International.
Davis, Joseph R. (ed). 1997. ASM Specialty Handbook: Heat-Resistant Materials. ASM International.
Bronzino, Joseph D.; Peterson, Donald R. 2006. Biomedical Engineering Fundamentals. CRC Press.
iiGlocker, David. Tantalum-coated Stents. Advanced Materials and Processes 166(4):58-59. April 2008.

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Cheng, Y; Ci, W.; Li, H. T. and Zheng, Y. F. Surface modification of NiTi alloy with tantalum to improve its biocompatibilityand radiopacity. J Mater Sci (2006) 41: 4961.
Neal A.ScottMD, PhD, et.al. Comparison of the thrombogenicity of stainless steel and tantalum coronary stents.
American Heart Journal. Volume 129, Issue 5, May 1995, Pages 866-872.
van der Giessen, W. J., et.al. Coronary stenting with a new, radiopaque, balloon-expandable endoprosthesis in pigs.
1991;83:1788-1798. Circulation. American Heart Association.
iii
Materials and Coatings for Medical Devices: Cardiovascular. ASM Materials for Medical Devices Database Committee,
p. 124 – 129. 2009. ASM International.
Shrivastava, hrivastava (ed). Medical Device Materials V: Proceedings from the 2009 Materials & Processes for Medical
Devices Conference. 2009. ASM International.
iv
Balla, Vamsi Krishna: Bodhak, Subhadip; Bose, Susmita and Bandyopadhyay, Amit. Porous Tantalum Structures for BoneImplants: Fabrication, Mechanical and In vitro Biological Properties. Acta Biomater. 2010 Aug; 6(8): 3349–3359.
Paganias, Christos G.; Tsakotos , George A.; Koutsostathis, Stephanos D. and Macheras, George A. Osseous integration inporous tantalum implants. Indian J Orthop. 2012 Sep-Oct; 46(5): 505–513.
v
Barbinta AC, Chelariu R, Crimu CI, Istrate B, Nazarie S, Earar K, Munteanu C. Metallographic characterization of a new
biomedical titanium-based alloy for orthopedic applications. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Series I:
Engineering and Science. 2013; 6(55):83-8.
vi
C. B. Johansson, H. A. Hansson, and T. Albrektsson, “Qualitative interfacial study between bone and tantalum, niobium
or commercially pure titanium,” Biomaterials, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 277–280, 1990.
vii
Schildhauer T.A., Peter E, Muhr G, Köller M. Activation of human leukocytes on tantalum trabecular metal incomparison to commonly used orthopedic metal implant materials. J Biomed Mater Res A. 2009 Feb;88(2):332-41.
viii
Galante J, Rostoker W, Lueck R, Ray RD. Sintered fiber metal composites as a basis for attachment of implants to bone.
J Bone Joint Surg [Am] 1971;53-A:101–114.
Pilliar RM, Cameron HU, Macnab I. Porous surface layered prosthetic devices. J Biomed Eng. 1975; 10:126–131.
Spector M. Bone ingrowth into porous metals. In: Williams DF, editor. Biocompatibility of orthopaedic implants. Florida:
CRC Press; 1982. pp. 89–128.
Stein T, Armand C, Bobyn JD, Krygier JJ, Miller J, Brooks CE. Quantitative histological comparison of bone growth intotitanium and cobalt-chromium porous coated canine implants. Orthop Trans. 1991;15:178.
ix
Antunes RA, Oliveira MC. Corrosion fatigue of biomedical metallic alloys: Mechanisms and mitigation. Acta
Biomaterialia. 2012; 8:937–962.
Perl DP, Brody AR. Alzheimer’s disease: X-ray spectrometer evidence of aluminum accumulation in neurofibrillary tanglebearing neurons. Science. 1980;208:297–299.
Anwar HA, Hart AJ, Visuvanathan S, Aldam CH. The effects of the heavy metals from total hip replacement wear debris
on bacterial growth. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 2009; 91:300.
Keegan GM, Leatmonth ID, Case CP. A systemic comparison of the actual potential and theoretical health effects ofcobalt and chromium exposures from industry and surgical implants. Crit Rev Toxicol. 2008;38:645–674.
Hosman AH, Mei HC, Bulstra SK, Kuijer R, Busscher HJ, Neut D. Influence of Co-Cr particles and Co-Cr ions on the growthof staphylococcal biofilms. Int J Artif Organs. 2011; 34:759–765.
Lhotka C, Szekes T, Stefan I. Four years study of cobalt and chromium blood levels in patients managed with two
different metal-on-metal total hip replacement. J of Orthopedic Res. 2003; 21:189–195.
Lin DJ, Chuang CC, Lin JHC, Lee JW, Ju CP, Yin HS. Bone formation at the surface of low modulus Ti–7 5Mo implants inrabbit femur. Biomaterials. 2007; 28:2582–2589.
Amel-Farzad H, Peivandi MT, Yusof-Sani SMR. In-body corrosion fatigue failure of a stainless steel orthopaedic implantwith a rare collection of different damage mechanisms. Eng Fail Anal. 2007; 14:1205–1217.
Manivasagam G, Dhinasekaran D, Rajamanickam A. biomedical implants: corrosion and its prevention – A review. Rec Pat
Corros Sci. 2010;2:40–54.
Fini M, Aldini NN, Torricelli P, Giavaresi G, Borsari V, Lenger H. A new austenitic stainless steel with negligible nickel
content: An in vitro and in vivo comparative investigation. Biomaterials. 2003;24:4929–4939.
Müller R, Abke J, Schnell E, Macionczyk F, Gbureck U, Mehrl R. Surface engineering of stainless steel materials bycovalent collagen immobilization to improve implant biocompatibility. Biomaterials. 2005; 26:6962–6972.
Takemoto S, Hattori M, Yoshinari M, Kawada E, Oda Y. Corrosion behavior and surface characterization of titanium insolution containing fluoride and albumin. Biomaterials. 2005; 26:829–837.
Okazaki Y, Gotoh E. Comparison of metal release from various metallic biomaterials in vitro. Biomaterials. 2005; 26:11–21.

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Levine BR, Sporer S, Poggie RA, Valle CJD, Jacobs JJ. Experimental and clinical performance of porous tantalum inorthopedic surgery. Biomaterials. 2006; 27:4671–4681.
Levine B, Della Valle CJ, Jacobs JJ. Applications of porous tantalum in total hip arthroplasty. J Am Acad Orthop Surg.
2006;14:646–655.
Rubitschek E, Niendorf T, Karaman I, Maier HJ. Corrosion fatigue behavior of a biocompatible ultrafine-grained niobium
alloy in simulated body fluid. J Mech Behav Biomed Mater. 2012; 5:181–192.
Sevilla P, Aparicio C, Planell JA, Gil FJ. Comparison of the mechanical properties between tantalum and nickel–titanium
foams implant materials for bone ingrowth applications. J Alloys Compd. 2007; 439:67–73.
xi
Shimko DA, Shimko VF, Sander EA, Dickson KF, Nauman EA. Effect of porosity on the fluid flow characteristics andmechanical properties of tantalum scaffolds. J Biomed Mater Res B Appl Biomater. 2005;73:315–24.
Zhang Y, Ahn PB, Fitzpatrick DC, Heiner AD, Poggie RA, Brown TD. Interfacial frictional behavior: Cancellous bone, corticalbone, and a novel porous tantalum biomaterial. J Musculoskeletal Res. 1999;3:245–51.
Miyazaki T, Kim HM, Kokubo T, Ohtsuki C, Kato H, Nakamura T. Mechanism of bonelike apatite formation on bioactivetantalum metal in a simulated body fluid. Biomaterials. 2002;23:827–32.
Kokubo T, Kim HM, Kawashita M. Novel bioactive materials with different mechanical properties. Biomaterials.
2003;24:2161–75.
Levine BR, Sporer S, Poggie RA, Della Valle CJ, Jacobs JJ. Experimental and clinical performance of porous tantalum inorthopedic surgery. Biomaterials. 2006;27:4671–81.
xii
D. M. Findlay, K. Welldon, G. J. Atkins, D.W.Howie, A. C.W. Zannettino, and D. Bobyn, “The proliferation andphenotypic expression of human osteoblasts on tantalum metal,” Biomaterials,vol. 25, no. 12, pp. 2215–2227, 2004.
Paganias, Christos G.; Tsakotos , George A.; Koutsostathis, Stephanos D. and Macheras, George A. Osseous integration inporous tantalum implants. Indian J Orthop. 2012 Sep-Oct; 46(5): 505–513.
xiii
Balla VK, Banerjee S, Bose S, Bandyopadhyay A. Direct Laser Processing of Tantalum Coating on Titanium for Bone
Replacement Structures. Acta Biomater. 2009 doi:10.1016/j.actbio.2009.11.021.
xiv
Hacking SA, Bobyn JD, Toh K, Tanzer M, Krygier JJ. Fibrous tissue ingrowth and attachment to porous tantalum. J
Biomed Mater Res. 2000; 52:631–638.
Miyazaki T, Kim HM, Kokubo T, Ohtsuki C, Kato H, Nakamura T. Mechanism of bonelike apatite formation on bioactivetantalum metal in a simulated body fluid. Biomaterials. 2002; 23:827–832.
Kokubo T, Kim HM, Kawashita M. Novel bioactive materials with different mechanical properties. Biomaterials.
2003;24:2161–2175.
Bobyn JD, Toh KK, Hacking SA, Tanzer M, Krygier JJ. Tissue response to porous tantalum acetabular cups: a canine model.
J Arthroplasty. 1999;14:347–354
Matsuno H, Yokoyama A, Watari F, Motohiro U, Kawasaki T. Biocompatibility and osteogenesis of refractory metal
implants, titanium, hafnium, niobium, tantalum and rhenium. Biomaterials. 2001 ;22:1253–1262.
Levine BR, Sporer S, Poggie RA, Della Valle CJ, Jacobs JJ. Experimental and clinical performance of porous tantalum inorthopedic surgery. Biomaterials. 2006; 27:4671–4681.
xv
Krishna BVamsi, Bose Susmita, Bandyopadhyay Amit. Low Stiffness Porous Ti Structures for Load Bearing Implants. Acta
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Krishna BVamsi, Xue Weichang, Bose Susmita, Bandyopadhyay Amit. Engineered Porous Metals for Implants. JOM.
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Wauthle, Ruben; Van der Stok, Johan; Yavari, Saber Amin and Schrooten, Jan. Additively manufactured porous
tantalum implants. Acta Biomaterialia. March 2015

25 January 2019For more information contact:
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Vice President R&D
e: CSungail@globaladvancedmetals.com
1223 County Line Road, Boyertown, PA, 19512, US
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100 Worcester Street, Suite 200, Wellesley, MA, 02481, USDISCLAIMER: The information contained in this document was obtained from third party sources. GAM has not independently
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