Applied research at our institute – Titanium or Ti-based alloys

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Scientists from the IIC SAS achieved success in cooperation with industry and paved the way for the further transfer of intellectual property at the national and international level.

The beginning of this success story was the application of the project “NanoBioFit – Nanostructured, functionally graded, and bioinspired 3D Ti-based implants” by the team of authors of the department of ceramics of IIC SAS in APVV call 2021. The mentioned project was based on the close cooperation of our colleagues as experts in inorganic chemistry, ceramic materials, electrochemistry with Biomedical Engineering Company (Košice), which is a leader in the production of titanium prostheses and implants using 3D printing technology. Ambitious plans and real tasks set by the industrial partner were basis for design of the project and start productive work on the implementation of the project.

For decades, attempts have been made to improve the surface properties and bioactivity of titanium prostheses and implants in order to reduce the number of failures in implantation practice and shorten the healing period. The most common titanium processing technique, sandblasting, has shown significant disadvantages for biomedical applications caused by contamination of the surface with blasting particles. In this regard, manufacturers of prostheses and implants and researchers were faced with the task of obtaining a non-contaminated surface, with an improved wettability, high corrosion resistance and sufficiently high biocompatibility. All these requirements were met by the new developed technology of the electrochemical surface treatment of titanium and its alloys in environmentally friendly deep eutectic solvents. Anna Kityk and Miroslav Hnatko became the idea authors and creators of this technology. An advantageous combination of physicochemical properties of new electrolytes allows efficiently and flexibly modeling the surface properties of the titanium products.
Obvious progress and achievements in the implementation of the project and the solution of existing research tasks were noted by the industrial partner. Besides, the results obtained became the basis of two European and one International patent applications. Technology Transfer Office SAS nominated innovation of A. Kityk and M. Hnatko and their team for the „Technology Transfer Award in Slovakia 2023“ competition, in 2 categories: „innovation“ and „innovators“.

 

For more details follow links:

Patents applications:

  • European patent application entitled „Method for electrochemical surface treatment of biomedical products made of titanium or Ti-based alloys“ was registered under the number 22193733.7 (2.09.2022).
  • European patent application entitled “A method for electrochemical surface treatment of biomedical products made of titanium or Ti-based alloys” was registered under the number 22204696.3 (31.10.2022).
  • International patent application entitled “A method for electrochemical surface treatment of biomedical products made of titanium or Ti-based alloys” was registered under the number PCT/SK2023/050006 (12.04.2023).