Abstract
Strategies to improve the mechanical compatibility of Ti-based materials for hard tissue implant applications are directed towards significant stiffness reduction by means of the adjustment of suitable β-phases and porous device architectures. In the present study, the effect of different compaction routes of the gas-atomized β-Ti-45Nb powder on the sample architecture, porosity, and on resulting mechanical properties in compression was investigated. Green powder compacted and sintered at 1000 °C had a porosity varying between 8% and 12%, strength between 260 and 310 MPa, and Young’s modulus ranging between 18 and 21 GPa. Hot pressing of the powder without or with subsequent sintering resulted in microporosity varying between 1% and 3%, ultimate strength varying between 635 and 735 MPa, and Young’s modulus between 55 and 69 GPa. Samples produced with NaCl space-holder by hot-pressing resulted in a macroporosity of 45% and a high strength of ˃200 MPa, which is higher than the strength of a human cortical bone. Finally, the corrosion tests were carried out to prove that the presence of residual NaCl traces will not influence the performance of the porous implant in the human body.
Highlights
Ti and its alloys are widely used for biomedical applications due to their suitable mechanical properties, high biocompatibility, and good corrosion resistance [1]
The samples were produced by loose sintering, the Young’s modulus of these samples was 3–6.4 GPa, and the plateau stress varied between 10 and 35 MPa [13], which is too low for load-bearing applications, since a typical human bone exhibits a compressive strength ranging between 150 and 300 MPa [14]
We report on the effect of different compaction routes—i.e., sintering at 1000 ◦ C and quenching, or hot-pressing at 600 ◦ C at different pressures with a slow cooling, or the combination of both
Summary
Ti and its alloys are widely used for biomedical applications due to their suitable mechanical properties, high biocompatibility, and good corrosion resistance [1]. Hot-pressing is expected to yield a better interconnection of metallic particles [11] than sintering without pressure and to increase the strength of porous bodies It has been demonstrated in our previous studies that the increase of porosity reduces the Young’s modulus to the desired values, but the strength of the samples becomes very low. The samples were produced by loose sintering, the Young’s modulus of these samples was 3–6.4 GPa, and the plateau stress varied between 10 and 35 MPa [13], which is too low for load-bearing applications, since a typical human bone exhibits a compressive strength ranging between 150 and 300 MPa [14].
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