Design and evaluation of Ti-15Mo-2Fe alloy for biomedical applications based on electronic parameters

¹ Department of Metallurgy, School of Mining and Metallurgy and Chemical Engineering, University of Johannesburg, Doornfontein Campus, Johannesburg, South Africa.
² Advance Materials Engineering, Manufacturing Cluster, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Meiring Naude Road, Brummeria, Pretoria 0184, South Africa.
³ National Laser Center, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Meiring Naude Road, Brummeria Pretoria 0184, South Africa.
⁴ Physical Metallurgy Group, Advanced Materials Division, Mintek, 200 Malibongwe Drive, Randburg 2125, South Africa.

^* Corresponding authors: Nthabisengmoshokoa@gmail.com, Majep@mintek.co.za, emakhatha@uj.ac.za

Abstract

Metastable β-Ti alloys that are evaluated using various electronic parameters to predict their phases and deformation products are gaining much research attention, especially in the biomedical application space. The aim on this study is to evaluate the influence of phase and deformation mechanism on the compression properties of Ti-15Mo-2Fe wt.% alloy designed using electronic parameters such as the B₀-M_d, and the Mo_eq methods. Phase evolution and deformation mechanism were experimentally evaluated before and after compression test using X-ray diffraction, and Optical Microscope. The XRD patterns before and after compression illustrated the presence of α′′, “R” and β phases. OM micrograph demonstrated β equiaxed grains only before compression and wide deformation bands and slip lines that could be related to deformation mechanism such as mechanical twins and slip were detected in the Ti-15Mo- 2Fe. The alloy exhibited high ultimate compressive strength of 1522 MPa, compressive yield of 1088 MPa and compressive strain of 33%. The alloy showed potential to be considered for biomedical applications especially those in vascular stents because of its high strength and % strain.