Nanostructured biocompatible titanium for biomedical implants

Project aim

To develop a method of using I-ECAP to produce UFG CP-Ti and Ti-13Nb-13Zr (a promising yet under-utilised material) and then further processing these via secondary processes in order to further improve the mechanical properties, which typically saturate during SPD.

Project background

For orthopedic implants, commercially pure titanium (CP-Ti) and titanium beta-alloys such as Ti-13Nb-13Zr are seen as potential alternatives to the commonly used alloy Ti-6Al-4V, due to their superior osseo-integration and biocompatibility, and reduced stiffness, which helps mitigate stress-shielding. However, due to insufficient initial strength, it is first necessary to achieve an ultrafine-grain (UFG) grain structure through severe plastic deformation (SPD). Incremental equal channel angular pressing (I-ECAP), a new SPD process, can process significantly longer billets compared to conventional ECAP, as friction is reduced by separating material feeding and material deformation.