Comparative Evaluation on the In Vitro Biological Performance of Ti45Al8.5Nb Intermetallic with Ti6Al4V and Ti6Al7Nb Alloys

Abstract The corrosion resistance of Ti45Al8.5Nb intermetallic alloy in artificial saliva and its cytocompatibility was studied via electrochemical tests, scanning electron microscopy, ion release measurement, and MTT assay, with contemporary biomedical Ti6Al4V and Ti6Al7Nb alloys as comparison. The results demonstrate that the corrosion potential (E_corr) and the corrosion current density (i_corr) of the three experimental alloy samples are similar and there is no statistically significant difference among them (p > 0.05). The Al³⁺ ion releasing concentration for Ti45Al8.5Nb intermetallic and Ti6Al7Nb alloy after anodic polarization are close. The relative cell proliferation rates of the three experimental alloy extract groups are all over 90% at various cultivation periods (1, 3, and 5 d), and there is no obvious difference for the MG63 cell morphologies comparing with that of the negative group, reaching confluence after 5 d culture and showing well stretched, which indicates that Ti45Al8.5Nb intermetallic alloy has a good cytocompatibility with the Grade 1 RGR value (no toxicity) according to ISO 10993‐5: 1999.