EFFECT OF SINTERING TIME AND TEMPERATURE ON THE MICROHARDNESS OF TITANIUM-ZIRCONIUM ALLOY

Titanium and titanium alloys have been widely used in medicine as implant materials for the last 50 years. The reason for this could be found in a unique combination of biocompatibility and strength of these alloys. The main advantage of titanium is the ability to bind to bone and grow into the implant. Due to the high cost of production, titanium is not used in large quantities, and therefore research are focused on finding new, more economical alloys. For these reasons, the aim of this paper is to analyze the effect of powder metallurgy process parameters in the production of titanium alloy containing 20% zirconium. Starting elemental powders were a ball milled and then compacted using the hydraulic press. Sintering process was performed under the different values of time and temperature. Starting powders were characterized using the scanning electron microscope. Porosity was analyzed using the light microscope. It was found that it could be decreased by increase in sintering temperature. Microhardness of polished sintered samples was determined by Vickers method. Results showed that higher microhardness values were obtained in samples sintered at higher temperature. Finally, results show that titanium-zirconium alloy produced by this route of powder metallurgy could be potentially used in a biomedicine.