Porous Titanium Fabricated by a Combination of Vacuum Distillation and Sintering Process

Abstract

As a new type of material combined with special structure and function, the porous titanium was prepared through vacuum distillation and sintering process, by which the titanium powder was used as raw material, magnesium particles and its powder as space holder, anhydrous ethanol as binder. The porosity of porous titanium obtained by this method is between 35% and 75% and its opening ratio runs up to 95%. The experimental result showed that magnesium existed in the compacted precursor was evaporated rapidly in vacuum when temperature reached 750°C and removed completely within 20 minutes. The suitable sintering temperature was between 1050°C and 1250°C, but the porosity of porous titanium decreased from 76.2% to 61.3% with temperature elevated. The precursor uniformity was improved by addition of anhydrous ethanol and its formability and density was also done by addition of magnesium powder. The relative density of precursor increased from 82% to 98% with magnesium powder volume fraction varied from 30 vol.% to 80 vol.%.