Abstract
We used selective laser melting (SLM) and hot pressing of mechanically-alloyed β-type Ti–40Nb powder to fabricate macroporous bulk specimens (solid cylinders). The total porosity, compressive strength, and compressive elastic modulus of the SLM-fabricated material were determined as 17% ± 1%, 968 ± 8 MPa, and 33 ± 2 GPa, respectively. The alloy’s elastic modulus is comparable to that of healthy cancellous bone. The comparable results for the hot-pressed material were 3% ± 2%, 1400 ± 19 MPa, and 77 ± 3 GPa. This difference in mechanical properties results from different porosity and phase composition of the two alloys. Both SLM-fabricated and hot-pressed cylinders demonstrated good in vitro biocompatibility. The presented results suggest that the SLM-fabricated alloy may be preferable to the hot-pressed alloy for biomedical applications, such as the manufacture of load-bearing metallic components for total joint replacements.
Highlights
Titanium (Ti) and its alloys are widely used as load-bearing implant materials for hard tissue support and replacement because of good mechanical properties, excellent biocompatibility, and high corrosion resistance [1]
The mechanical alloying (MA)-produced powder was found to be suitable for use in both selective laser melting (SLM) and hot pressing
These cylinders were compared on the basis of phase composition, morphology, porosity, inner pore architecture, compressive strength and modulus, and in vitro biocompatibility
Summary
Titanium (Ti) and its alloys are widely used as load-bearing implant materials for hard tissue support and replacement because of good mechanical properties, excellent biocompatibility, and high corrosion resistance [1]. One of the shortcomings of commonly-used Ti-based alloys is high stiffness, expressed as high modulus of elasticity (E) (typically, >100 GPa). A large stiffness mismatch between the implant material and the contiguous bone can lead to stress shielding, which retards the mechanical stimulation of the bone healing process [2]. For a given Ti-based alloy, it is desirable to reduce its E to that of healthy bone (4–30 GPa) while maintaining its high strength and good plasticity [3]. One is the production of metastable β-type wrought titanium-niobium (Ti–Nb) alloys (for example, Ti–40Nb), but the reported minimum value of E (60–62 GPa) is too high [4]. Porous Ti–Nb alloys, having a microstructure similar to that of cancellous bone, have been produced [5]
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