Ion-beam modified polymers for biomedical applications

Materials designed for the use in a human body became one of the most important tasks of today's material science. Among them polymers play an important role being light, easy to form and inert in biological environment. Tight requirements expected from elements to be used in a human body can only exceptionally be fulfilled by single phased materials. An obvious solution is thus the use of surface treatments allowing the combination of different properties in various areas of the material. Ion beams offer unique possibilities for the modification of polymers: the highest known energy density, short range leaving the bulk properties unchanged and versatility in selection of areas to be treated. In the paper selected problems related to ion beam modification of polymers will be discussed. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.