Nanostructured Ti-Zr-Pd-Si-(Nb) bulk metallic composites: Novel biocompatible materials with superior mechanical strength and elastic recovery

Abstract

The microstructure, mechanical behaviour, and biocompatibility (cell culture, morphology, and cell adhesion) of nanostructured Ti45 Zr15 Pd35- x Si5 Nbx with x = 0, 5 (at. %) alloys, synthesized by arc melting and subsequent Cu mould suction casting, in the form of rods with 3 mm in diameter, are investigated. Both Ti-Zr-Pd-Si-(Nb) materials show a multi-phase (composite-like) microstructure. The main phase is cubic β-Ti phase (Im3m) but hexagonal α-Ti (P63/mmc), cubic TiPd (Pm3m), cubic PdZr (Fm3m), and hexagonal (Ti, Zr)5 Si3 (P63/mmc) phases are also present. Nanoindentation experiments show that the Ti45 Zr15 Pd30 Si5 Nb5 sample exhibits lower Young's modulus than Ti45 Zr15 Pd35 Si5 . Conversely, Ti45 Zr15 Pd35 Si5 is mechanically harder. Actually, both alloys exhibit larger values of hardness when compared with commercial Ti-40Nb, (HTi-Zr-Pd-Si ≈ 14 GPa, HTi-Zr-Pd-Si-Nb ≈ 10 GPa and HTi-40Nb ≈ 2.7 GPa). Concerning the biological behaviour, preliminary results of cell viability performed on several Ti-Zr-Pd-Si-(Nb) discs indicate that the number of live cells is superior to 94% in both cases. The studied Ti-Zr-Pd-Si-(Nb) bulk metallic system is thus interesting for biomedical applications because of the outstanding mechanical properties (relatively low Young's modulus combined with large hardness), together with the excellent biocompatibility.

Keywords: Ti-based alloy; bioimplant; biological tests; mechanical behaviour; nanostructured material.