Fabrication and characterisation of low-cost powder metallurgy Ti-xCu-2.5Al alloys produced for biomedical applications

Ti and Ti-based materials are of growing interest as biocompatible structural materials in a wide range of biomedical applications. Traditionally, one of the main factors hindering the wider use of this class of materials has been the relatively high manufacturing cost. Today, Ti-6Al-4V remains the most widely used material for dental and orthopaedic implants. However, the presence of cytotoxic vanadium in its composition casts doubt on the safety of using this alloy as biomedical material. This study aims to study the microstructural features and mechanical properties of ternary alloys Ti-xCu-2.5Al (where x = 0.5-5 wt%Cu) obtained by powder metallurgy (PM) methods. The attractiveness of this group of materials lies in its economy due to the significantly lower cost of Cu compared to vanadium and the intrinsic advantages of PM. The obtained samples demonstrated increasing tensile strength and Vickers hardness values with increasing Cu content, from 640 MPa to 195 HV to 800 MPa and 250HV, respectively. At the same time, an inverse relationship was observed for the elongation. A higher content of beta-stabiliser is accompanied by the formation of a more significant number of spherically shaped pores and a refined lamellar structure which are responsible for the changes in mechanical properties.