Patent ID: 7820577

Claim:
A biomedical member formed from a composite ceramic including: an alumina phase; and a zirconia crystal phase, wherein a mean grain size of said zirconia crystal phase is 0.5 μm or smaller; wherein said biomedical member contains at least one selected from the group consisting of a metal phase and a metal oxide, and sintering additives; wherein said metal phase is at least one selected from the group consisting of molybdenum, tungsten and a mixture of molybdenum and tungsten; wherein said metal oxide is at least one selected from the group consisting of strontium oxide and yttrium oxide; wherein 65 to 96% by weight of said alumina phase is contained in said biomedical member; wherein 4 to 34.4% by weight of said zirconia crystal phase is contained in said biomedical member; wherein said sintering additives contain 0.20% by weight or more silicon oxide, 0.22% by weight or more titanium oxide and 0.12% by weight or more magnesium oxide, while the total amount of silicon oxide, titanium oxide and magnesium oxide is in a range from 0.6 to 4.5% by weight.