Effect of microstructure on the mechanical properties of as-cast Ti-Nb-Al-Cu-Ni alloys for biomedical application

The correlation between the microstructure and mechanical behavior during tensile loading of Ti68.8Nb13.6Al6.5Cu6Ni5.1 and Ti71.8Nb14.1Al6.7Cu4Ni3.4 alloys was investigated. The present alloys were prepared by the non-equilibrium processing applying relatively high cooling rates. The microstructure consists of a dendritic bcc β-Ti solid solution and fine intermetallic precipitates in the interdendritic region. The volume fraction of the intermetallic phases decreases significantly with slightly decreasing the Cu and Ni content. Consequently, the fracture mechanism in tension changes from cleavage to shear. This in turn strongly enhances the ductility of the alloy and as a result Ti71.8Nb14.1Al6.7Cu4Ni3.4 demonstrates a significant tensile ductility of about 14% combined with the high yield strength of above 820 MPa already in the as-cast state. The results demonstrate that the control of precipitates can significantly enhance the ductility and yet maintaining the high strength and the low Young's modulus of these alloys. The achieved high bio performance (ratio of strength to Young's modulus) is comparable (or even superior) with that of the recently developed Ti-based biomedical alloys.