Abstract
Ti-Cu alloys have broad application prospects in the biomedical field due to their excellent properties. The properties of Ti-Cu alloys are strongly dependent on Cu content, microstructures, its Ti2Cu phase and its preparation process. The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of Cu content on the precipitation behaviors, mechanical and corrosion properties of the as-cast Ti-Cu alloys. The microstructures and phase evolution were characterized by SEM and TEM, and the properties were studied by tensile and electrochemical test. The results show that the volume fraction of Ti2Cu phase increases with the increase of Cu content. The Ti2Cu phase presents a variety of microscopic morphologies with different Cu content, such as rod, granular, lath and block shaped. The crystal orientation relationships between the Ti2Cu and α-Ti matrix in Ti-4Cu and Ti-10Cu alloys are (103)Ti2Cu//(0[111)α-Ti, [01]Ti2Cu//[20]α-Ti, and (103)Ti2Cu//(0002)α-Ti, [31]Ti2Cu//[110]α-Ti, respectively. The tensile strength, Vickers hardness and Young’s modulus of the Ti-Cu alloys increase with the increase of Cu content, whereas the elongation decreases. The fracture morphologies of these alloys reveal ductile, ductile-brittle hybrid, and cleavage brittle mode, respectively. The corrosion resistance of the Ti-Cu alloys in SBF solution can be described as: Ti-4Cu alloy > Ti-10Cu alloy > Ti-7Cu alloy. The volume fraction of Ti2Cu phases and the “protective barrier” provided by the fine lath Ti2Cu phases strongly affected the electrochemical performances of the alloys.
Highlights
Titanium alloys are widely used in the biomedical field due to their light weight, high strength, good biocompatibility and corrosion resistance [1,2,3]
Much attention has been paid to the antibacterial properties of the titanium alloys, and the formation of Ti-Cu alloy by adding Cu element to pure titanium has been proven to be an effective method to improve the antibacterial properties of materials [6,7]
It is found that the Ti-Cu alloy can form a good osseointegration with bones, and has a lower bone absorption rate compared with CP-Ti by animal experiments [9]
Summary
Titanium alloys are widely used in the biomedical field due to their light weight, high strength, good biocompatibility and corrosion resistance [1,2,3]. Due to the lack of antibacterial function of titanium, the CP-Ti and TC4 alloys implanted in clinical use are prone to bacterial infection during or after surgeries [4,5]. Ti-Cu alloy has good antibacterial properties and can effectively inhibit the formation of bacteria on the surface of the alloy, thereby significantly improving the success rate of joint prosthesis and dental implant surgeries [8]. The excellent antibacterial properties of Ti-Cu alloy can be attributed to the Cu2+ released from the Ti2Cu phase during the galvanic corrosion process [10]. It is necessary to investigate the precipitation behavior of the alloys
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