Porous titanium (Ti) scaffolds by freezing TiH2/camphene slurries

Porous titanium (Ti) scaffolds with interconnected pores were fabricated by freezing titanium hydride (TiH2)/camphene slurries at 33 degrees C for 24 h, followed by freeze-drying and subsequent heat-treatment at 1300 degrees C for 2 h in vacuum. All of the fabricated samples revealed highly porous structures having large pores up to 100 mu m in size surrounded by Ti metal walls without any secondary phases. When the initial TiH2 content was increased from 15 to 25 vol.%, the porosity was decreased from 63 to 49%, while the compressive strength was significantly improved from 81 to 253 MPa. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.