Microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti-15Zr alloy used as dental implant material

Ti-Zr alloys have recently started to receive a considerable amount of attention as promising materials for dental applications. This work compares mechanical properties of a new Ti-15Zr alloy to those of commercially pure titanium Grade4 in two surface conditions - machined and modified by sand-blasting and etching (SLA). As a result of significantly smaller grain size in the initial condition (1-2µm), the strength of Ti-15Zr alloy was found to be 10-15% higher than that of Grade4 titanium without reduction in the tensile elongation or compromising the fracture toughness. The fatigue endurance limit of the alloy was increased by around 30% (560MPa vs. 435MPa and 500MPa vs. 380MPa for machined and SLA-treated surfaces, respectively). Additional implant fatigue tests showed enhanced fatigue performance of Ti-15Zr over Ti-Grade4.

Preparation and characterisation of new titanium based alloys for orthopaedic and dental applications

Various types of titanium alloys with high strength and low elastic modulus and, at the same time, vanadium and aluminium free have been developed as surgical biomaterials in recent years. Moreover, porous metals are promising hard tissue implants in orthopaedic and dentistry, where they mimic the porous structure and the low elastic modulus of natural bone. In the present study, new biocompatible Ti-based alloy foams with approximate relative densities of 0.4, in which Sn and Nb were added as alloying metals, were synthesised through powder metallurgy method.
The new alloys were prepared by mechanical alloying and subsequently sintered at high temperature using a vacuum furnace. The characteristics and the processability of the ball milled powders and the new porous titanium-based alloys were characterised by X-ray diffraction, optical
microscopy and scanning electron microscopy .The mechanical properties of the new titanium alloys were examined by Vickers microhardness measurements and compression testing.

Machinability assessment of titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V for biomedical applications

Titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) has a wide range of application in various fields of engineering. Titanium is mainly used to manufacture aerospace components like landing gear, fuselage, wings, engines etc. and biomedical components like hip joint, knee joint, dental implants etc. Titanium has outstanding material properties such as corrosion resistance, fatigue strength, tensile strength and a very good biocompatibility which makes this material very alluring for biomedical applications. Contrary, the machinability of the material is problematic because of the phase transformations and thus, titanium alloy is a challenge for machining operation. This research is a comparative analysis between the implants manufactured by traditional method of casting and machining. The femoral stem of the hip joint replacement is designed and the component is machined using a five-axis CNC machine.The machined component was subjected to surface roughness testing, tensile testing and bulk hardness testing. The values were compared with the values of titanium implants manufactured by casting. © (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.