Ti Matrix Syntactic Foam Fabricated by Powder Metallurgy: Particle Breakage and Elastic Modulus

Titanium matrix syntactic foams have potential for orthopedic applications because of their good biocompatibility, corrosion resistance and ability of varying the elastic modulus. This paper studies the fabrication of Ti matrix syntactic foams embedded with ceramic microspheres (CMs) by a powder metallurgy method. The percentage of the crushed CMs during compaction was measured by the volume measurement and water absorption methods, and the elastic modulus of the Ti matrix syntactic foam was measured by compression tests. The effects of the Ti volume percentage and the compaction pressure on the percentage of crushed CMs and the elastic modulus were studied. For a given Ti volume percentage, the percentage of crushed CMs increases with increasing compaction pressure; for a given compaction pressure, the percentage of crushed CMs decreases with increasing Ti volume percentage. At a compaction pressure lower than 100 MPa, the elastic modulus increases with increasing Ti volume percentage and compaction pressure; at a compaction pressure above 100 MPa, further increases in Ti volume percentage and compaction pressure decrease the elastic modulus.