11.

Titanium Bio-metallic alloys

 Stainless steels/Co-Cr & Ti alloys
Alloys Advantages Disadvantages
SS High strength Poor Corrosion Resistance
Economic High Modulus
Easy processing
Co-Cr High strength High Modulus
Corrosion Resistance Costly
Ti-alloys High strength Poor wear resistance
Corrosion Resistance
Low Modulus

• High modulus – Dissolution/re-sorption of bone

• Ti alloys -- problem – Metallic ion  Reaction/toxicity/irritation – HOST
• Remedy – Ceramic coatings
• Poor wear resistance  Surface Coatings – Ceramic materials ----Mostly
HAp – Improve wear Resistance --- Cyto/bio-compatible
 Common Titanium Alloys

• CP Ti : 99-99.5% purity

• Ti-6Al-4V Alloy  Ti 6 4
 Microstructure

• Pure Ti  Single phase alpha (hcp base)

• Limited number of slip planes- difficult to process

• 30% cold worked  grain 10-150μm (to improve strength)

• strengthening mechanism
 Effect of seccndary interstitials
• O  0.1-0.4 wt%

• N 0.05wt% max

• C 0.10 wt%

• O,C,N  Interstitial solid solution strengthening ( N

showing double the effect than that of O or C)
 Effect of O content
• Grade-I to Grade-IV (Ti Alloys ) – based on O

• Significant in enhancing mechanical properties Interstitial

(o) site
• 0.18-0.4 wt% increases yield strength from
170-485 MPa

• 0.085-0.27 wt% increases fatigue strength from

88 -216 MPa at 107 Cycles

• Adding O – High energy regime – difficult in slips to

occurs
 Role of TiO2
• TiO2 oxide provide corrosion resistance

• TiO2 – impervious layer – intact-very thin-inert-leaching

of Ti ions not allowed- cells/tissues are comfortable with
TiO2 film on implant surface

• Cell adhesion --- growth --- proliferation

• Cyto/Biological compatibility at molecular/tissue level

• Assists ossiointegration, oral and maxillofacial implants

 Ti Alloys
*Ti-6Al-4V – popular BM implant material
Processing :
• Ti
• Primary Reinforcement by
• Al (5.5-6.5)
• V (3.5-4.5)
• Fe, C, O (0.5) secondary reinforcement

• Single phase to Dual phase

• Develop new slip system
• Enhance ductility and strength
• takes care of YS, FS (C,O)
 Role of Additions on Microstructure
• Ti-6Al-4V  alpha + beta phase (dual phase structure)
• Al- alpha stabilizer (hcp) CPTi
• V – beta stabilizer (bcc)
• Achieve higher yield strength and fatigue strength
Ti-6Al-4V
• But, Processing problem
• Heating above 1000OC for longer duration, beta phase forms
(100%)
• Slow cooling – Widmanstatten structure
• Slow cooling  coarse grains (> 500 μm : hall-petch )
• Below 1000OC – needle like secondary alpha (hcp) form in the
matrix of coarse beta phase (bcc) - Widmanstatten - needle like
• Brittle, high stress concentration, deleterious
• Loose strengthening and toughening
 Widmanstatten microstructure
• hcp alpha phase (Al rich and V depleted) precipitate as
plates/needles
• Specific crystallographic orientation in beta (bcc matrix)
• Coarse grained
• Poor mechanical properties
• Recommendation – Modify heat treatments
 Remedy Modify heat treatment

• Rapid cooling  martensitic/banitic solid state transformation

– fine microstructure (10-20μm)
• Alloy heated below beta transition (< 1000OC)
• Annealed to give fine microstructure of isolated beta (1-5 μm)
which is homogeneous in alpha matrix
• No Widmanstatten structure
 Mechanical properties of Ti Alloy

Material Condition Young's Yield Tensile Fatigue

Modulus strength strength strengh
(Mpa) (Mpa)
(107 cycles)
CPTi 30% Cold 123 485 760 300
worked
Ti-6Al-4V Forged 136 900 995 620
annealed
Forged 136 1034 1110 620-820
controlled
heat
treatment
 Coating on Ti Alloy

• Fatigue property – more dependent on superior Ti alloy

implant
• Porosity – more dependent on coating
• Surface property – coating - biocompatibility
• Implant life- Fracture mechanics

• INTERDISCIPLINARY
 Wear of Implants
• Wear of Metallic implant is a serious concern – wear debries
• Different joints of human body, where two similar or
dissimilar materials come in contact
• In a typical Hip prosthesis, metallic stent is attached to
ceramic ball moves inside the acetabular cup
• At the joint of metal-ceramic interface, fretting fatigue could
be responsible for the implant loosening
 Fretting wear in Ti based alloys
• Fretting wear experiments on number of Ti alloys; 10N load, 10Hz, 80
μm displacement stroke) for up to 10,000 cycles in simulated body
fluid (SBF)environment
• CoF of Ti-6Al-4V alloy lies between 0.46-0.5 and for Ti-5Al-2.5Fe is 0.3
• Major wear mechanism was found to be tribo-mechanical abrasion,
transfer layer formation and cracking

• CoF :

CPTi- 0.5 Ti-6Al-4V -0.46 Ti-5Al-2.5Fe - 0.3

Ti-13Nb-13Zr-0.48 Co-28Cr-6Mo – 0.40

 Corrosion resistance of Ti Alloy
• Researcher characterized the sample of Ti-6Al-7Nb with
surfaces presenting a different chemical and mechanical
states

• From results it can be concluded that Ti-6Al-7Nb presents bio-

active ability and good corrosion resistance after an
appropriate surface treatments, which consists of two step
chemical etching and heat treatment

• Improved porosity, yield strength, fatique strength etc.

• Other researchers evaluated the corrosion behavior of Ti
based alloys in Hank’s solution (SBF)

• They compared electrochemical and corrosion behavior

results for four different types of alloys like
Ti-6Al-4V, Ti-6Al-4Nb, Ti-6Al-4Fe, Ti-5Al-2.5Fe
 Potentio-dynamic Polarization

• PDP in Hank’s solution at 37 degree Celsius

• Parameters – ZCP –zero current potential, Eb-breakdown potential,
Ipass – Passive current density, Eb-ZCP-passivation range
 Tafel Extrapolation

• Corrosion rates
• Hank’s solution - 37 deg C pH - 7.4
• Parameters – ZCP, βc, βa, icorr-corrosion current density
• The passive range in the case of materials exhibiting stable
passive behaviour is provided by difference between ZCP and Eb

• Addition of Al, decreases the passive range significantly,

• On the other hand Nb, increases passive range but not as much
as that of Ti-6Al-4V

• The corrosion rates of Ti-6Al-4V , Ti-5Al-2.5Fe , Ti-6Al-4Fe and Ti-

6Al-4Nb were comparable

• Corrosion rates was not drastically affected by amount of Fe

substitution

• All the alloy exhibited stable passive polarization behavior