Since the last few decades, the development of smart hydrogels, which can respond to stimuli and adapt their responses based on external cues from their environments, has become a thriving research frontier in the biomedical engineering field. Nowadays, drug delivery systems have received great attention and smart hydrogels can be potentially used in these systems due to their high stability, physicochemical properties, and biocompatibility. Smart hydrogels can change their hydrophilicity, swelling ability, physical properties, and molecules permeability, influenced by external stimuli such as pH, temperature, electrical and magnetic fields, light, and the biomolecules’ concentration, thus resulting in the controlled release of the loaded drugs. Herein, this review encompasses the latest investigations in the field of stimuli-responsive drug-loaded hydrogels and our contribution to this matter.

Along with biocompatibility, bioinductivity and appropriate biodegradation, mechanical properties are also of crucial importance for tissue engineering scaffolds. Hydrogels, such as gellan gum (GG), are usually soft materials, which may benefit from the incorporation of inorganic particles, e.g. bioactive glass, not only due to the acquired bioactivity, but also due to improved mechanical properties. They exhibit complex viscoelastic properties, which can be evaluated in various ways. In this work, to reliably evaluate the effect of the bioactive glass (BAG) addition on viscoelastic properties of the composite hydrogel, we employed and compared the three most commonly used techniques, analyzing their advantages and limitations: monotonic uniaxial unconfined compression, small amplitude oscillatory shear (SAOS) rheology and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Creep and small amplitude dynamic strain-controlled tests in DMA are suggested as the best ways for the characterization of mechanical properties of hydrogel composites, whereas the SAOS rheology is more useful for studying the hydrogel’s processing kinetics, as it does not induce volumetric changes even at very high strains. Overall, the results confirmed a beneficial effect of BAG (nano)particles on the elastic modulus of the GG–BAG composite hydrogel. The Young’s modulus of 6.6 ± 0.8 kPa for the GG hydrogel increased by two orders of magnitude after the addition of 2 wt.% BAG particles (500–800 kPa).

Ti6Al4V alloy is an ideal lightweight structural metal for a huge variety of engineering applications due to its distinguishing combination of high specific mechanical properties, excellent corrosion resistance and biocompatibility. In this review, the mechanical properties of selective laser-melted Ti6Al4V parts are addressed in detail, as well as the main processing and microstructural parameters that influence the final properties. Fundamental knowledge is provided by linking the microstructural features and the final mechanical properties of Ti6Al4V parts, including tensile strength, tensile strain, fatigue resistance, hardness and wear performance. A comparison between Laser Powder Bed Fusion and conventional processing routes is also addressed. The presence of defects in as-built Ti6Al4V parts and their influences on the mechanical performance are also critically discussed. The results available in the literature show that typical Laser Powder Bed–Fused Ti6Al4V tensile properties (>900 MPa yield strength and >1000 MPa tensile strength) are adequate when considering the minimum values of the standards for implants and for aerospace applications (e.g., ASTM F136–13; ASTM F1108–14; AMS4930; AMS6932).

The broad interest in Functionally Graded Materials (FGM) has resulted in many achievements over the last decade. It is now generally understood that 'traditional' FGM applications and processing techniques should be extended also to 'non-traditional' materials, but the most important – materials solutions. This means a solution of specific problem by using design concept new material. Such tailored materials and solutions may be a cost-effective approach, in particularly for FGM, where cost limitations have been found to hinder FGM implementation in industrial applications. In this review, bulk processing methods of FGM are discussed.