Unusual dry sliding tribological behavior of biomedical ultrafine-grained TiNbZrTaFe composites fabricated by powder metallurgy

Abstract

Tribological behavior of biomedical ultrafine-grained (UFGed) TiNbZrTaFe (TNZTF) composites fabricated by powder metallurgy was investigated under dry wear condition. Results show that compared with two kinds of conventional biomedical Ti-6Al-4V (TAV) and Ti-13Nb-13Zr (TNZ) alloys, the wear loss of the TNZTF samples is only 3.5% and 1% of that of the TAV and TNZ samples, respectively. Unusual tribological behavior is that the wear loss of the TNZTF samples decreases with the increase in sliding speed at the same load. This is attributed to the formation of a large amount of hard Nb 2 O 5 particles on the contact surface of the material during rubbing and more severe plastic deformation in the material layers adjacent to the contact surfaces. The wear mechanism of the three kinds of alloys was also investigated. The outstanding tribological property proves that the UFGed TNZTF alloys should be an excellent candidate material to be used for biomedical application in the future.

Biomedical TiNbZrTaSi alloys designed by d-electron alloy design theory

“…Also, the UFGed structure in the two-phase region is proved by the 100-200 nm equiaxed S2 grains and the 500 nm −1 μm β-Ti phase. Therefore, the as-sintered UFGed TiNbZrTaSi alloys are expected to have better biocompatibility and wear resistance than those of their coarse-grained counterparts [20,21].…”

“…As aforementioned, the designed near β type titanium alloys with low elastic modulus have superior biomechanical compatibility compared with conventional α + β type titanium alloys. Nevertheless, due to low resistance to plastic shearing and low work hardening, these near β type coarse-grained alloys suffer from the shortcoming of poor tribological property [20,21]. It has been reported that ultrafine-grained (UFGed) titanium and titanium alloys have increased osteoblast adhesion [20] and higher wear resistance [21] compared with their coarse-grained counterparts.…”

“…Nevertheless, due to low resistance to plastic shearing and low work hardening, these near β type coarse-grained alloys suffer from the shortcoming of poor tribological property [20,21]. It has been reported that ultrafine-grained (UFGed) titanium and titanium alloys have increased osteoblast adhesion [20] and higher wear resistance [21] compared with their coarse-grained counterparts. Results indicated that the wear loss of the UFGed TiNbZrTaFe alloy is only 3.5% and 1% of that of biomedical Ti-6Al-4V and Ti-13Nb-13Zr alloys, respectively [21,22].…”

“…It has been reported that ultrafine-grained (UFGed) titanium and titanium alloys have increased osteoblast adhesion [20] and higher wear resistance [21] compared with their coarse-grained counterparts. Results indicated that the wear loss of the UFGed TiNbZrTaFe alloy is only 3.5% and 1% of that of biomedical Ti-6Al-4V and Ti-13Nb-13Zr alloys, respectively [21,22]. Therefore, fabrication of the finer grain structure becomes a significant academic question for biomedical titanium alloys.…”

Powder Metallurgy Strategies to Improve Properties and Processing of Titanium Alloys: A Review

“…Moreover, tailored microstructure could be obtained by controlling sintering and crystallizing of amorphous titanium alloy powder . Several studies achieved fine and ultrafine equiaxed grained composite microstructure showing enhanced mechanical properties …”