Microstructure, wear resistance, and corrosion performance of Ti35Zr28Nb alloy fabricated by powder metallurgy for orthopedic applications

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2019.08.041

Abstract

Abstract:

A ternary Ti35Zr28Nb alloy was fabricated by powder metallurgy (PM) from pre-alloyed powder. The microstructure, hardness, corrosion behavior, and wear response of the produced alloy were investigated systematically. The results show that nearly full dense Ti35Zr28Nb alloy (relative density is 98.1 ± 1.2 %) can be fabricated by PM. The microstructure was dominated with uniform β phase. The Ti35Zr28Nb alloy displayed spontaneous passivity in a naturally aerated simulated body fluid (SBF) solution at 37 ± 0.5 °C. The Ti35Zr28Nb alloy exhibited the highest corrosion resistance as compared to as-cast Ti6Al4V and pure Ti because of the formation of a protective passive film containing TiO₂, Nb₂O₅, and ZrO₂, including the highest corrosion potential (-0.22 ± 0.01 V), the lowest corrosion current density (57.45 ± 1.88 nA), the lowest passive potential (0.05 ± 0.01 V) and the widest passivation range (1.29 ± 0.09 V). Under the same wear condition, the wear rate of the Ti35Zr28Nb alloy (0.0021 ± 0.0002 mm³/m·N) was lower than that of the CP Ti (0.0029 ± 0.0004 mm³/m·N) and close to that of the Ti6Al4V (0.0020 ± 0.0003 mm³/m·N). The wear mechanism of the Ti35Zr28Nb alloy was mainly dominated by abrasive wear, accompanied by adhesive wear. The highest corrosion resistance together with the adequate wear resistance makes the PM-fabricated Ti35Zr28Nb alloy an attractive candidate for orthopedic implant materials.

Key words: Ti35Zr28Nb, Powder metallurgy, Microstructure, Wear behavior, Corrosion resistance

Wei Xu, Xin Lu, Jingjing Tian, Chao Huang, Miao Chen, Yu Yan, Luning Wang, Xuanhui Qu, Cuie Wen. Microstructure, wear resistance, and corrosion performance of Ti35Zr28Nb alloy fabricated by powder metallurgy for orthopedic applications[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2020, 41: 191-198.

Figures/Tables 13

Fig. 1. (a) XRD spectra, and SEM images of: (b) PM-fabricated Ti35Zr28Nb, (c) as-cast Ti6Al4V, and (d) as-cast pure Ti.

Table 1 The chemical compositions of the Ti35Zr28Nb alloy.

Chemical composition (wt.%)
Ti	N	C	O	H	Fe	Al	V	Ni	Nb	Zr
Bal.	0.006	0.03	0.16	0.003	0.02	0.03	0.01	0.01	27.7	35.4

Fig. 2. Micro-Vickers of PM-fabricated Ti35Zr28Nb, as-cast Ti6Al4V, and as-cast pure Ti.

Fig. 3. Open-circuit potential vs. time for as-cast pure Ti, as-cast Ti6Al4V and PM-fabricated Ti35Zr28Nb specimens in naturally aerated SBF solution at 37 ± 0.5 °C.

Fig. 4. Potentiodynamic polarization curves for as-cast pure Ti, as-cast Ti6Al4V, and PM-fabricated Ti35Zr28Nb specimens in naturally aerated SBF solution at 37 ± 0.5 °C.

Table 2 Extracted corrosion parameters from potentiodynamic polarization for as-cast pure Ti, as-cast Ti6Al4V and PM-fabricated Ti35Zr28Nb specimens in naturally aerated SBF solution at 37 ± 0.5 °C.

Parameters	CP-Ti	Ti6Al4V	Ti35Zr28Nb
E_corr (V vs. SCE)	-0.27 ± 0.03	-0.31 ± 0.02	-0.22 ± 0.01
I_corr (nA cm^-2)	63.31 ± 1.21	95.31 ± 1.56	57.45 ± 1.88
I_p (μA cm^-2)	2.01 ± 0.04	2.19 ± 0.06	1.88 ± 0.05
E_b (V vs. SCE)	1.33 ± 0.07	1.21 ± 0.06	1.34 ± 0.07
E_p (V)	0.29 ± 0.03	0.23 ± 0.02	0.05 ± 0.01
E_p-E_b (V)	1.04 ± 0.07	0.98 ± 0.05	1.29 ± 0.09

Fig. 5. (a) Nyquist, and (b) Bode plots for as-cast pure Ti, as-cast Ti6Al4V and PM-fabricated Ti35Zr28Nb specimens in naturally aerated SBF solution at 37 ± 0.5 °C compared with the simulation results.

Fig. 6. Randle equivalent circuit for simulation results of impedance spectra of as-cast pure Ti, as-cast Ti6Al4V and PM-fabricated Ti35Zr28Nb specimens in naturally aerated SBF solution at 37 ± 0.5 °C.

Table 3 Fitting parameters from EIS for as-cast pure Ti, as-cast Ti6Al4V and PM-fabricated Ti35Zr28Nb specimens in naturally aerated SBF solution at 37 ± 0.5 °C.

Alloys	R_s (Ω cm²)	Q_b (μF cm^-2)	n_b	R_p (MΩ cm²)	χ² (10^-4)
Pure Ti	99.89 ± 1.76	2.91 ± 0.25	0.91 ± 0.11	2.56 ± 0.09	7.25 ± 0.15
Ti6Al4V	87.72 ± 3.22	3.83 ± 0.29	0.88 ± 0.12	0.58 ± 0.08	7.88 ± 0.21
Ti35Zr28Nb	95.45 ± 1.51	2.66 ± 0.35	0.92 ± 0.15	10.24 ± 0.18	4.31 ± 0.36

Fig. 7. High resolution XPS spectra of CP Ti, Ti-6Al-4V and Ti35Zr28Nb in SBF after potentiodynamic polarization tests (a) Ti 2p, (b) O 1s, (c) Al 2p, (d) Nb 3d, (e) Zr 3d.

Table 4 XPS results of binding energies at surfaces after potentiodynamic polarization tests of the as-cast pure Ti, as-cast Ti6Al4V and PM-fabricated Ti35Zr28Nb (eV).

Specimens	Ti_2p	Nb_3d	Zr_3d	O_1s	Al_2p
Ti35Zr28Nb	458.6 ± 0.1 464.5 ± 0.2	207.1 ± 0.3 210.2 ± 0.1	182.3 ± 0.5 185.3 ± 0.3	530.5 ± 0.2 532.2 ± 0.2	-
Pure Ti	458.3 ± 0.5 464.4 ± 0.1	-	-	530.4 ± 0.3 532.1 ± 0.1	-
Ti6Al4V	458.5 ± 0.4 464.3 ± 0.2	-	-	530.3 ± 0.4 532.2 ± 0.2	74.2 ± 0.2

Fig. 8. (a) wear rate and wear volumetric loss, and (b) friction coefficient curves of as-cast pure Ti, as-cast Ti6Al4V and PM-fabricated Ti35Zr28Nb specimens.

Fig. 9. Morphologies of worn surfaces generated and corresponding wear debris images of the Ti specimens after wear tests: (a) and (d) PM-fabricated Ti35Zr28Nb, (b) and (e) as-cast Ti, (c) and (f) as-cast Ti6Al4V.

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