The effects of severe plastic deformation on some properties relevant to Ti implants

Abstract

In some types of surgical implants, such as bone screws and plates, Grade 2 Ti is seriously considered as a replacement for the Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Advantages are lower cost and the absence of Al and V, which have been identified as potentially harmful to human health. The present paper shows that the lower strength of the commercially pure metal can be enhanced by Severe Plastic Deformation followed by conventional cold rolling, so as to reach a strength level higher than the technical requirements applicable to the alloy. This was ascertained by tensile and Vickers hardness tests from which it was concluded that the best combination of properties are obtained by submitting the metal to Equal Channel Angular Pressing (four passes at 300 ©C) followed by a 70% thickness reduction by cold rolling. Although the present results are valid for the material only, and not for the product considered, that is, bone screws, it appears that this solution is a step towards the replacement of the Ti6-4 alloy by Grade 2 Ti, at least for some types of metallic medical implants.