Table 1.
Biodegradable implant materials reported in the literature, the main constituent atoms and average density [18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32].
| Main Atoms | Density | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ceramics | |||
| Calcium phosphates | |||
| Hydroxyapatite | Ca, P | 3.1–3.2 | |
| Dicalcium phosphate dihydrate | DCPD | Ca, P | 2.3 |
| Brushite | Ca, P | 2.3–2.33 | |
| Tricalcium phosphate | TCP | Ca, P | 3 |
| Tetracalcium phosphate | TeCP | Ca, P | 3.06 |
| Bioglass | Si, Ca, Na, O | 2.6–2.7 | |
| Polymers | |||
| Poly(amino acids) | e.g., poly(γ-benzyl-L-glutamate) | C, H | 1.2 |
| Poly(ortho esters) | C, O, H | 0.39–0.46 | |
| Polyphosphazenes | P, N | ||
| Poly(propylene fumarate) | C, O | 0.998 | |
| Polyesters | |||
| Aliphatic | Polylactide | C, H, O | 1.25–1.27 |
| Polyglycolide | C, H, O | 1.5–1.6 | |
| Copolymers | |||
| Polyhydroxy- alkanoates |
Polyhydroxy- butyrate |
C, H, O | 1.18–1.26 |
| Polyhydroxy- valerate |
C, H, O | ||
| Polyhydroxy- hexanoate |
C, H, O | ||
| Polyhydroxy- octanoate |
C, H, O | ||
| Copolymers | |||
| Polycaprolactone | C, H, O | 1.10–1.15 | |
| Polydioxanone | C, O | 1.318 | |
| Metals | |||
| Magnesium | Alloyed with Ca, Zn, Al, rare metals | Mg | 1.738 |
| Iron | Fe | 7.874 | |
| Zinc | Zn | 7.140 | |
| Body tissues | |||
| Bone (cortical) | 1.9 | ||
| Muscle (skeletal) | 1.06 |