Long Life

ADVANCED MULTIFUNCTIONAL ZIRCONIA CERAMICS FOR LONG LASTING IMPLANTS

AIM

LONGLIFE project has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013). The aim of LONGLIFE is to develop new multi-functional zirconia oral and spine (lumbar inter-vertebral disc) implants, with a perfect reliability and a lifetime longer than 60 years, insuring an ‘implant for life’. Such an ambitious goal, motivated by the risks and costs associated to revision surgery, will only be reachable by new zirconia-based composites and by an enhancement of the osseointegration capabilities of the implants in contact with bone.

TOUGH, STRONG AND STABLE CERAMICS

As zirconia-based ceramics are the only oxides able to couple high stress resistance and fracture toughness thanks to transformation toughening, a strong effort will be given to the improvement of their stability in the presence of water, without decreasing their toughness and strength.

IMPLANTS WITH FUNCTIONAL ADDED VALUES
Osseointegration will be improved by the chemical and topographical modification of the surface. We aim at producing zirconia surfaces able to decrease the risk of bacterial adhesion and improve bone apposition, for better clinical success. Given the specific nature of ceramics, especially versus the risk of brittle failure, we aim at developing new ceramic-oriented designs for the implants, and not just ‘copy and paste’ from metal implants as it is generally done at present. This ‘implants by design’ approach will ensure a better, long-lasting success of oral and spine implants. 

A MISSION : AN IMPLANT FOR LIFE
LONGLIFE consortium will develop accelerated tests able to reproduce more effectively the different degradation mechanisms and their interplay in a multi-physics approach, in order to ensure an implant reliability and lifetime superior to current implants.

PROJECT REFERENCES 

FP7 Project Contract Number : 280741
Start Date : 02-01-2012
Duration : 42 months 
Project Total Cost : 5.6 million Euros
EC Contribution/Funding : 4 million Euros