A metal super-hard was created in the laboratory by a team of American researchers led by Romanian woman Emilia Morosan at Rice University, Houston, by melting together titanium and gold, thus obtaining the toughest alloy known that proves compatible with living tissues.
Materialulul newly created is four times stronger than pure titanium and has medical applications, extending the life of implants, team members say the researchers. Currently, knee and hip implants conventional need to be replaced due to wear after about 10 years.
Prof. Emilia Morosan, Rice University, said his team made the discovery while studying unconventional magnets made of titanium and gold.
New materials must be turned into powders to verify their purity, but the new alloy obtained – beta-Ti3Au – was too strong to be crushed in a mortar covered with diamonds.
The material “showed the highest hardness of all alloys Ti-Au (titanium gold) and their compounds, and compared to many other alloys in engineering, “said Emilia Morosan.
She said the hardness of the alloy, together with its high biocompatibility, making him a “composed of next generation extending substantially lifetime of dental implants and prosthetic joints.”
It may also have applications in the drilling industry in the sports equipment and many other potential areas, added Emilia Morosan.
Titanium is one of the few metals around which human bones are able to grow strongly, this property allows it to be widely used in medicine and dentistry .
Emilia Morosan was born in 1976 in Suceava. He completed his studies at the Faculty of Physics of the University “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” and obtained his PhD in 2005 at the University of Iowa. After working a while at Princeton University, he became an assistant professor of physics, astronomy and chemistry at Rice University.
In 2010, researcher Romanian woman was honored by President Barack Obama at the gala Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).
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