A Ni-, Al-, Be-free Zr-based metallic glass for biomedical applications

Biomaterials are attracting an ever-increasing research interest. As part of this overall effort, we report herein the fabrication and characteristics of Zr-based ribbon samples with three different compositions: Zr56CO28Ga16, Zr56Co28Ga14Si2, and Zr56Co28Ga14Sn2. The supercooled-liquid region Delta T = T-x - T-g of these materials is 16, 18, and 29 K, respectively, where T-x is the temperature of the onset of crystallization and T-g is the glass-transition temperature. The samples are thermally characterized by using differential scanning calorimetry and by determining the activation energy. The corrosion resistance is determined by immersing the materials for up to 20 days in a simulated body fluid, and the cytotoxicity is measured from the proliferation of osteoblast-like cells on the samples. Finally, the mechanical properties are investigated by nanoindentation. The Young's modulus is 112 GPa. These results all highlight the suitability of this metallic glass for biomedical applications.