cobalt chrome molybdenum alloy (CoCrMo) is a popular material for aerospace and medical applications because of its excellent mechanical properties including corrosion resistance, wear-resistance and high hardness. This alloy is also known for its chemical inertness and biocompatibility.
A variety of orthopedic implants are made of a cobalt-chromium-molybdenum casting alloy. Typically, the implant material is produced from reproducible wax models and then coated with a ceramic layer. After it cools, the components are machined.
This alloy has been used in a wide range of medical and dental implants, such as joint replacements, hip prostheses and bone grafts. It is considered as one of the most reliable and biocompatible metals available for orthopedic implants.
Despite this, complications with orthopaedic implants are still reported from time to time, which may be due to incomplete biocompatibility of the materials. To address this issue, new ultralow-Ni cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloys have been developed and evaluated in vivo.
The new alloys have low-Ni contents, which are significantly lower than those found in traditional Co-Cr-Mo. Consequently, they are less toxic to the host tissue and have better outcomes.
It is important to note that these biocompatible alloys should be used with caution in patients who are allergic to nickel. The presence of a high amount of Ni in the alloys can cause the host tissue to become more sensitive and can result in allergic reactions and inflammation.
As cobalt-based and CoCrMo alloys are widely applied in aerospace and medical industries, it is necessary to develop machining processes that can work with these materials. In order to do so, researchers are conducting studies on machining these materials in both conventional and rotary cutting.