Corrosion Behaviour of Ti\u201334Nb\u201325Zr Alloy Fabricated by Spark Plasma Sintering

Abstract

Titanium alloys are often used in orthopaedic applications owing to their superior mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. Passive corrosion or material degradation process such as wear has been reported due to the release of titanium and other alloying elements into the surrounding tissue. It is therefore important to study the corrosion behaviour of the alloy in biomedical environments. A sub-micron grain-structured Ti–34Nb–25Zr (TNZ) alloy was fabricated via mechanical alloying (MA) of elementary powders followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The electrochemical behaviour of TNZ alloy was investigated at 37 °C for 4 h in three different solutions; the Hank’s, the 0.9 wt% NaCl and the eagle minimum essential medium + 10% fetal bovine serum (E-MEM + 10%FBS) solutions. The results show Ecorr values for TNZ alloy in Hank’s, 0.9 wt% NaCl and E-MEM + 10%FBS solutions were about − 202 mV, − 251 mV and − 171 mV, respectively. The measured icorr values were ~ 1.66 nA/cm2 in hank’s solution, which is lower than that in 0.9 wt% NaCl (~ 4.20 nA/cm2) and E-MEM + 10% FBS solution (~ 3.19 nA/cm2). TNZ exhibits good corrosion resistance in all the solutions.