• ●Developed by the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), an autonomous research centre of the Department of Science and Technology, established in 1997 with its main campus at Hyderabad.
• ●The implant integrates Ti6Al4V titanium alloy as the load-bearing fixture that binds to the jawbone, and yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) as the crown region for wear resistance and appearance.
• ●It replaces the conventional three-part implant — fixture, abutment and crown — whose abutment interface allows micromovements that can compromise osseointegration and loosen the implant.
• ●Osseointegration is the direct structural bonding of bone to an implant surface; the release notes titanium alloy can suffer corrosion and gum recession in the mouth, while zirconia can degrade by hydrolysis over time.
• ●Fabrication: Spark Plasma Sintering, an advanced powder-metallurgy technique, with a custom tapered graphite die that densified both materials in one step despite their very different sintering temperatures.
• ●Results: 99.5% density; a well-bonded interface with no cracks, delamination, pores or secondary phases; YSZ grains about 0.3 micrometre and Ti6Al4V grains near the interface refined to 0.3-1 micrometre.
• ●Mechanical and biological performance: hardness up to 1350 HV, compressive strength about 1550 MPa, flexural strength about 310 MPa; MTT assays on L929 mouse fibroblast cells showed over 90% metabolic activity and hemolysis tests showed negligible red blood cell damage.
• ●The Anusandhan National Research Foundation, created by an Act of 2023, is now the apex funder of such research — it subsumed the Science and Engineering Research Board, and the Prime Minister is ex-officio President of its governing board.

The International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), which developed the bi-layered dental implant, is an autonomous institute of which department?