Mechanical properties of titanium-zirconium binary alloys were investigated in order to reveal their possible use for new biomedical materials and to collect useful data for alloy design through a hardness test, a tensile test, and optical microscopy. The hardness of the alloy containing 50% zirconium was approximately 2.5 times as large as the hardness of pure titanium and pure zirconium. Tensile tests showed a similar tendency. No changes between hardness of as cast specimens and as homogenized specimens were observed, nor were changes in microstructures noted. Comparisons between the Ti-6Al-4V alloy and the Ti-Zr-6Al-4V alloy indicated that a titanium-zirconium alloy could provide a base material for a new biomedical alloy. From these results, it was concluded that new alloys for biomedical materials should be designed as titanium-zirconium base alloys.
The functional properties of nickel-titanium endodontic instruments, especially their flexible bending load level, were closely related to the transformation behaviour of the alloys.
Although the reported percentage of bone-implant contact is far lower than 100%, the cause of such low levels of bone formation has rarely been investigated. This study tested the negative biological effect of hydrocarbon deposition onto titanium surfaces, which has been reported to be inevitable. Osteogenic MC3T3-E1 cells were cultured on titanium disks on which the carbon concentration was experimentally regulated to achieve carbon/titanium (C/Ti) ratios of 0.3, 0.7, and 1.0. Initial cellular activities such as cell attachment and cell spreading were concentration-dependently suppressed by the amount of carbon on the titanium surface. The osteoblastic functions of alkaline phosphatase activity and calcium mineralization were also reduced by more than 40% on the C/Ti (1.0) surface. These results indicate that osteoblast activity is influenced by the degree of hydrocarbon contamination on titanium implants and suggest that hydrocarbon decomposition before implant placement may increase the biocompatibility of titanium.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.