FUNCTIONALLY GRADED COMPOSITES: FROM STRUCTURAL TO BIOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS

The concept of Functionally Graded Materials (FGM) was developed in order provide a satisfactory answer to situations where engineering components have to cope with highly dissimilar service conditions. These materials exhibit a controlled microstructural or compositional heterogeneity which results in optimized property profiles along the parts fabricated with them. In common with Composite Materials, FGMs are highly heterogeneous materials and it becomes advantageous to incorporate their conception within the part's design process, and these affinities soon gave rise to the development of Functionally Graded Composites. Work on these composites performed at Universidade Nova de Lisboa has covered ceramic particle-reinforced Functionally Graded Metal Matrix Composites, as well as Sintactic Foams, with application fields corresponding mainly to structural applications, but ultimately offering interesting prospects for biological applications. In order to fabricate these materials, several processing methods have been tested. The present work will present some of the most significant results stemming from this line of research