AI hip replacements could last longer after scientists designed new bone-like materials that resist loosening under repeated stress.
Researchers led by Amir Zadpoor at Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands used machine learning to search for stiff auxetic metamaterials. These materials can become thicker when stretched.
Hip implants face heavy daily strain. The source text says people with artificial hips take about two million steps a year, which can loosen implants over time.
The team sought a material that could act more like bone. It needed stiffness to carry body weight and auxetic behaviour to keep an implant pressed against the femur.
AI hip replacements rely on metamaterials, which gain unusual properties from their internal structure rather than their chemical makeup.
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Zadpoor said machine learning can test thousands to millions more structures than slower physics-based methods. As a result, researchers can search more quickly for materials that meet the needs of bone implants.
Scientists say the same approach could support patient-specific implants. In future, machine learning may help tailor 3D-printed bone implants to a patient’s anatomy.
