Toxicity assessment of three-component Fe–Cr–Ni biomedical materials using an augmented simplex design

This study firstly establishes the toxicity assessment of three-component Fe–Cr–Ni biomedical materials using Probit dose–response model and augmented simplex design. The individually determined toxicity rankings of these three cations is in the order Ni2+ ≥ Cr3+ > Fe3+. The ternary Fe–Cr–Ni systemʹs EC50 contour plot shows a hump with EC50 = 897.5 mg/L, and a saddle with EC50 = 637.5 mg/L. Ternary Fe–Cr–Ni biomedical implants may possess good biocompatibility when the chemical compositions of selectively leached metal ions approach the hump region, but present at increased toxic risk when close to the saddle region. Toxicity of Fe–Cr–Ni three-component biomedical materials with various chemical compositions can be predicted and verified economically and efficiently using an augmented simplex design.