Titanium alloys for biomedical applications

Titanium alloys, because of their excellent mechanical, physical and biological performance, are finding ever-increasing application in biomedical devices. This paper provides an overview of titanium alloy use for medical devices, their current status, future opportunities and obstacles for expanded application. The article is divided into three main sections, the first discussing recent efforts focused on commercial purity titanium. This is followed by considering effects of chemistry, grain size and alpha/beta morphologies on mechanical properties of alpha+beta alloys. Finally, the third section reviews the status of metastable alloys specifically designed for biomedical applications emphasizing their aging behavior and its effects on mechanical properties. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.