Porous binary Ti-10Mo alloys were prepared using non-spherical titanium, molybdenum powders by the powder metallurgy (PM) space holder technique. Based on the three-dimensional analysis of porosity characteristics, a detailed assessment of the effects of porosity on mechanical properties and corrosion resistances in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) was carried out. For comparison, PM-fabricated CP-Ti with 50.5% porosity sintered at 1200 °C for 2 h and dense Ti-10Mo alloy sintered at 1450 °C for 2 h (relative density is 97.2% and porosity is 2.8%) were studied simultaneously. The results show that with the space-holder volume contents rising from 63 to 79%, the open porosity and average pore size (d50) increase remarkably, while the pore size distribution (d10–d90) tends to be stable at about 100 μm. The average pore sizes (d50) of porous Ti-10Mo alloy can be controlled in the range of 70–380 μm. The PM-fabricated porous Ti-10Mo alloy can achieve a wide range of mechanical properties, with yield compression strength of 248.2–76.9 MPa, and elastic modulus of 6.4–1.7 GPa. In addition, the yield compression strength and the elastic modulus meet the linear regression and exponential formula, respectively. With the porosity of Ti-10Mo alloy increasing from 2.8 to 66.9%, the corrosion rate rises exponentially from 1.6 g/m2·day to 17.1 g/m2·day. In comparison to CP Ti with nearly the same porosity, Ti-10Mo alloy shows significantly higher corrosion resistance. As a result, the relationships between porosity and mechanical properties, corrosion resistances of Ti-10Mo alloys were established, which can be used as a design reference in material selection for orthopedic applications.
The superplastic deformation of a hot-extruded GH4151 billet was investigated by means of tensile tests with the strain rates of 10−4 s−1, 5 × 10−4 s−1 and 10−3 s−1 and at temperatures at 1060 °C, 1080 °C and 1100 °C. The superplastic deformation of the GH4151 alloy was reported here for the first time. The results reveal that the uniform fine-grained GH4151 alloy exhibited an excellent superplasticity and high strain rate sensitivity (exceeded 0.5) under all experimental conditions. It was found that the increase of strain rate resulted in an increased average activation energy for superplastic deformation. A maximum elongation of 760.4% was determined at a temperature of 1080 °C and strain rate of 10−3 s−1. The average activation energy under different conditions suggested that the superplastic deformation with 1 × 10−4 s−1 in this experiment is mainly deemed as the grain boundary sliding controlled by grain boundary diffusion. However, with a higher stain rate of 5 × 10−4 s−1 and 1 × 10−3 s−1, the superplastic deformation is considered to be grain boundary sliding controlled by lattice diffusion. Based on the systematically microstructural examination using optical microscope (OM), SEM, electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and TEM techniques, the failure and dynamic recrystallization (DRX) nucleation mechanisms were proposed. The dominant nucleation mechanism of dynamic recrystallization (DRX) is the bulging of original grain boundaries, which is the typical feature of discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX), and continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) is merely an assistant mechanism of DRX. The main contributions of DRX on superplasticity elongation were derived from its grain refinement process.
Sub-solvus dynamic recrystallization (DRX) mechanisms in an advanced γ-γ’ nickel-based superalloy GH4151 were investigated by isothermal compression experiments at 1040 °C with a strain rate of 0.1 s−1 and various true strain of 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7, respectively. This has not been reported in literature before. The electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) technology were used for the observation of microstructure evolution and the confirmation of DRX mechanisms. The results indicate that a new dynamic recrystallization mechanism occurs during hot deformation of the hot-extruded GH4151 alloy. The nucleation mechanism can be described as such a feature, that is a primary γ’ (Ni3(Al, Ti, Nb)) precipitate embedded in a recrystallized grain existed the same crystallographic orientation, which is defined as heteroepitaxial dynamic recrystallization (HDRX). Meanwhile, the conventional DRX mechanisms, such as the discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX) characterized by bulging grain boundary and continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) operated through progressive sub-grain merging and rotation, also take place during the hot deformation of the hot-extruded GH4151 alloy. In addition, the step-shaped structures can be observed at grain boundaries, which ensure the low-energy surface state during the DRX process.
A biocompatible Ti-28Nb-35.4Zr alloy used as bone implant was fabricated through the powder metallurgy process. The effects of mechanical milling and sintering temperatures on the microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated systematically, before in vitro biocompatibility of full dense Ti-28Nb-35.4Zr alloy was evaluated by cytotoxicity tests. The results show that the mechanical milling and sintering temperatures have significantly effects on the density and mechanical properties of the alloys. The relative density of the alloy fabricated by the atomized powders at 1500 °C is only 83 ± 1.8%, while the relative density of the alloy fabricated by the ball-milled powders can rapidly reach at 96.4 ± 1.3% at 1500 °C. When the temperature was increased to 1550 °C, the alloy fabricated by ball-milled powders achieve full density (relative density is 98.1 ± 1.2%). The PM-fabricated Ti-28Nb-35.4Zr alloy by ball-milled powders at 1550 °C can achieve a wide range of mechanical properties, with a compressive yield strength of 1058 ± 35.1 MPa, elastic modulus of 50.8 ± 3.9 GPa, and hardness of 65.8 ± 1.5 HRA. The in vitro cytotoxicity test suggests that the PM-fabricated Ti-28Nb-35.4Zr alloy by ball-milled powders at 1550 °C has no adverse effects on MC3T3-E1 cells with cytotoxicity ranking of 0 grade, which is nearly close to ELI Ti-6Al-4V or CP Ti. These properties and the net-shape manufacturability makes PM-fabricated Ti-28Nb-35.4Zr alloy a low-cost, highly-biocompatible, Ti-based biomedical alloy.