Porous titanium materials with entangled wire structure for load-bearing biomedical applications

A kind of porous metal-entangled titanium wire material has been investigated in terms of the pore structure (size and distribution), the strength, the elastic modulus, and the mechanical behavior under uniaxial tensile loading. Its functions and potentials for surgical application have been explained. In particular, its advantages over competitors (e.g., conventional porous titanium) have been reviewed. In the study, a group of entangled titanium wire materials with non-woven structure were fabricated by using 12-180 MPa forming pressure, which have porosity in a range of 48%-82%. The pores in the materials are irregular in shape, which have a nearly half-normal distribution in size range. The yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and elastic modulus are 75 MPa, 108 MPa, and 1.05 GPa, respectively, when its porosity is 44.7%. The mechanical properties decrease significantly as the porosity increases. When the porosity is 57.9%, these values become 24 MPa, 47.5 MPa, and 0.33 GPa, respectively. The low elastic modulus is due to the structural flexibility of the entangled titanium wire materials. For practical reference, a group of detailed data of the porous structure and the mechanical properties are reported. This kind of material is very promising for implant applications because of their very good toughness, perfect flexibility, high strength, adequate elastic modulus, and low cost. (C) 2011. Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.