Nanostructured Ti-Zr-Pd-Si-(Nb) bulk metallic composites: Novel biocompatible materials with superior mechanical strength and elastic recovery.

Abstract

The microstructure, mechanical behaviour, and biocompatibility (cell culture, morphology, and cell adhesion) of nanostructured Ti45 Zr15 Pd35- x Si5 Nbx with x = 0, 5 (at. %) alloys, synthesized by arc melting and subsequent Cu mould suction casting, in the form of rods with 3 mm in diameter, are investigated. Both Ti-Zr-Pd-Si-(Nb) materials show a multi-phase (composite-like) microstructure. The main phase is cubic β-Ti phase (Im3m) but hexagonal α-Ti (P63/mmc), cubic TiPd (Pm3m), cubic PdZr (Fm3m), and hexagonal (Ti, Zr)5 Si3 (P63/mmc) phases are also present. Nanoindentation experiments show that the Ti45 Zr15 Pd30 Si5 Nb5 sample exhibits lower Young's modulus than Ti45 Zr15 Pd35 Si5 . Conversely, Ti45 Zr15 Pd35 Si5 is mechanically harder. Actually, both alloys exhibit larger values of hardness when compared with commercial Ti-40Nb, (HTi-Zr-Pd-Si ≈ 14 GPa, HTi-Zr-Pd-Si-Nb ≈ 10 GPa and HTi-40Nb ≈ 2.7 GPa). Concerning the biological behaviour, preliminary results of cell viability performed on several Ti-Zr-Pd-Si-(Nb) discs indicate that the number of live cells is superior to 94% in both cases. The studied Ti-Zr-Pd-Si-(Nb) bulk metallic system is thus interesting for biomedical applications because of the outstanding mechanical properties (relatively low Young's modulus combined with large hardness), together with the excellent biocompatibility.

• Authors: A Hynowska, A Blanquer, E Pellicer, J Fornell, S Suriñach, M D Baró, A Gebert, M Calin, J Eckert, C Nogués, E Ibáñez, L Barrios, J Sort
• Journal: Journal of biomedical materials research. Part B, Applied biomaterials (J Biomed Mater Res B Appl Biomater) Vol. 103 Issue 8 Pg. 1569-79 (Nov 2015) ISSN: 1552-4981 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 25533018 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Chemical References

• Biocompatible Materials
• Metals, Heavy

Topics

• Biocompatible Materials (chemistry)
• Cell Line, Tumor
• Elastic Modulus
• Humans
• Materials Testing
• Metals, Heavy (chemistry)
• Nanocomposites (chemistry)
• Stress, Mechanical