Beta titanium alloys are promising materials for load-bearing orthopaedic implants due to their excellent corrosion resistance and biocompatibility, low elastic modulus and moderate strength. Metastable beta-Ti alloys can be hardened via precipitation of the alpha phase; however, this has an adverse effect on the elastic modulus. Small amounts of Fe (0-2 wt.%) and Si (0-1 wt.%) were added to Ti-35Nb-7Zr-6Ta (TNZT) biocompatible alloy to increase its strength in beta solution treated condition. Fe and Si additions were shown to cause a significant increase in tensile strength and also in the elastic modulus (from 65 GPa to 85 GPa). However, the elastic modulus of TNZT alloy with Fe and Si additions is still much lower than that of widely used Ti-6Al-4V alloy (115 GPa), and thus closer to that of the bone (10-30 GPa). Si decreases the elongation to failure, whereas Fe increases the uniform elongation thanks to increased work hardening. Primary human osteoblasts cultivated for 21 days on TNZT with 0.5Si+2Fe (wt.%) reached a significantly higher cell population density and significantly higher collagen I production than cells cultured on the standard Ti-6Al-4V alloy. In conclusion, the Ti-35Nb-7Zr-6Ta-2Fe-0.5Si alloy proves to be the best combination of elastic modulus, strength and also biological properties, which makes it a viable candidate for use in load-bearing implants.

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The high cycle and very high cycle fatigue properties of the titanium alloy Ti6Al4V with a duplex microstructure were investigated at room temperature. High cycle fatigue tests were performed in the range from 10 4 to 10 7 cycles by rotating bending at the frequency of 30 Hz. The very high cycle fatigue tests were carried out in the range from 10 7 to 10 10 cycles in tension-compression on an ultrasonic fatigue testing machine at the frequency of 20 kHz. The stress amplitude was found to decrease with increasing number of cycles in the whole range from 10 4 up to 10 9 cycles and only at the highest number of cycles (NF = 10 9 ) the alloy exhibits the fatigue limit of 460 MPa. The detail fractographic analysis was performed to characterize the fatigue failure mechanisms. Both subsurface and surface crack initiation were observed in very high cycle fatigue region. No inclusions, but only local chemical inhomogeneity in microstructure was observed at the locations of subsurface fatigue crack initiation in alpha-grains.