The effect of combined thermomechanical treatment on the structure, phases and hardness of a superelastic Ti-Zr-Nb bar stock

Abstract

The superelastic Ti-19Zr-14Nb (at.%) alloy was subjected to a novel sequence of thermomechanical treatment, including radial shear rolling, rotary forging and post-deformation annealing. The features of the grain structure, phase composition and hardness of a long-length bar stock for fabrication of bone implants were analyzed. It was shown that after the aforementioned combined thermomechanical treatment followed by annealing in the 550-750 °C temperature range, the produced bar stock demonstrates uniformly distributed grains of β-phase and uniform hardness across its section.