Effects of Silicon and Heat-Treatment on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Biomedical Ti-39Nb-6Zr Alloy

The cytotoxic tissue reactions of alloying elements (Al, V) of Ti-6Al-4V have been reported, whereas the Ti-39Nb-6Zr (TNZ40) alloy developed by adding β-phase stabilizing elements is known to have no cytotoxicity and exhibits excellent biocompatibility. In addition, there is a slight modulus difference between the TNZ40 alloy and human bones as the elastic modulus of the TNZ40 alloy is very low. This can inhibit detrimental effects such as osteoblast loss due to a stress-shielding effect. In this study, various Si contents were added and heat treatment under various conditions was performed to control the microstructure and mechanical properties of the TNZ40 alloy. In the β-type titanium alloy, the ω phase is commonly observed by quenching from the solution-treatment or aging-treatment temperature. These ω precipitates can typically increase the elastic modulus, hardness, and embrittlement of the β-type titanium alloy, which are important to control this phase. The correlation between Si content and precipitation and the effects of solution treatment and aging condition on the mechanical properties such as tensile strength, and hardness, were analyzed.