Characterization of loose powder sintered porous titanium and TI6Al4V alloy

Abstract

Porous titanium and Ti6Al4V alloy, biomedical candidate materials for use in orthopedic and dental implants, were manufactured by sintering the powders at various temperatures in loose condition. The characteristics of the corresponding powders and utilized sintering temperatures limited the final porosities in the range 30-37.5 vol. %. Similar to wrought alloys, compression stress-strain curves of porous samples exhibited 3 distinct deformation regions containing an elastic region, subsequent to yielding strain hardening region up to a peak stress and fast fracture after small straining. The mechanical properties of porous samples of both types were observed to obey minimum solid area (MSA) models in which the bond regions between particles perpendicular to loading direction are assumed to dominate in transmission of stress. A linear relation was obtained between yield strength and square of neck size ratio, (X/D)2, where X and D represent the average neck and particle diameters, respectively.