ABSTRACT
Bioactive ceramics include those materials that rapidly react with human tissue to form direct chemical bonds across the interface. Poor bonding across this interface and a sensitivity to stress corrosion cracking has limited the use of some materials. Alumina is one material that has received a reasonable amount of study. Porous alumina has been shown to lose 35% of its strength in vivo after 12 weeks, Frakes et al. 1974. Seidelmann et al. 1982 have shown that alumina loses about 15% of its strength after exposure to deionized water or blood when subjected to a constant stress. They also concluded that the service life of a hip endoprosthesis was dependent upon the density of the alumina. Ritter et al. 1979 studied the effects of coating alumina with a bioactive glass that retarded the fatigue process.
